Hamburg. A whipping bang sounds. Then another and another. There are Shots. It echoes through the building again and again, and more and more people are hit. The perpetrator moves through the corridors in Rambo style Gymnasiums, fires at several people he encounters, reloads and shoots again.
It is a horrific crime that took place in a school in Erfurt on April 26, 2002 – and it shocked the whole of Germany. It is a Rampage, as we usually know him from America. A crime that has claimed several lives, committed by a student. The 19-year-old left behind a bloodbath with 16 dead.
School shooting in Erfurt: perpetrator shoots 82 times, 17 people die
“The perpetrator used a Glock self-loading pistol,” says Abendblatt court reporter Bettina Mittelacher in “On the Trail of Death.” Crime-Podcast with forensic doctor Klaus Püschel. “And when the magazine is empty after 17 shots, the shooter doesn’t stop there. He slides a new magazine into his gun. Again he fires 17 bullets. Reload, shoot, reload, shoot, again and again. In the end, the 19-year-old used 82 projectiles.”
“The young man could probably have continued to attack other, innocent people,” says forensic doctor Püschel. “In addition to the Glock, he had another weapon with him during his rampage. He carried this second weapon, a pump shotgun, with a strap on his back. But he didn’t use it. In the end, the perpetrator who caused a massacre commits suicide.”
The act triggered a real shock wave that swept across Germany. How was such a crime possible? “Maybe a look back will help,” says Mittelacher. “Three years earlier, the school massacre in Littleton, America, shocked the world. “Two graduating seniors shot and killed 12 students ages 14 to 18, a teacher and themselves within less than an hour on April 20, 1999 at Columbine High School in Colorado.”
Erfurt: Did the perpetrator use the Columbine school massacre as a model?
Did the young man from Erfurt use this American massacre as a role model? There is no clear information about this. The assassin from Thuringia left nothing in writing from which explicit conclusions could be drawn. “What we know for sure is the shocking outcome of the act of violence,” says Mittelacher. “The 19-year-old former student Robert S. shot eleven teachers, a trainee teacher, a secretary, two students and a police officer. He then killed himself.”
The crime took place on the day of the last written Abitur exam. Robert S. had previously been expelled from school. The background was that he had been absent for several days and had falsified a medical certificate. Maybe he wanted to make a statement after his expulsion? According to the motto: If you don’t want to keep me here at school, then you should see what you get out of it.
On that day in April 2002, Robert S. entered the school at around 10:45 a.m. and was still unmasked at the time. He still carried his weapons and ammunition in a sports bag or backpack. In the men’s room he changed some of his clothing – including putting a black face mask over his head. Then he took a Glock and a pump-action shotgun.
The gunman is masked and has two firearms with him
“The 19-year-old, masked and armed, first made his way to the school office,” says Püschel. “There he shot the deputy principal and the secretary. The director was in the next room. The headmistress locked herself in her office and alerted the rescue control center.” Mittelacher adds: “But until the rescue workers arrived at the school, the student continued to walk through the building, repeatedly shooting at people he met along the way. One might get the impression that he was primarily targeting the teachers.”
Among other things, he shot a fleeing teacher several times. She fell forward through a half-open door. The gunman climbed over her and fired another shot at the lying woman from the other direction.
He also killed two students – with bullets through a closed door behind which several people had barricaded themselves. Another student survived as if by a miracle: the bullets got stuck in the backpack the boy was carrying. The gunman then went to the schoolyard and shot another teacher there. Robert S. then changes his magazine.
Shooting spree: A teacher can lock up the perpetrator
“But something else has fundamentally changed,” says Püschel. “The police have now arrived at the school. The gunman opens fire on the police officers. One of the officers shoots back. Nobody gets hit. Robert S. then goes back into the building and to the first floor. He shoots a police officer from a window.”
“That’s a total of 16 lives that the young man has on his conscience,” summarizes Mittelacher. “And now something amazing happens, something like a turnaround.” “That’s what it looks like,” confirms Püschel. “Anyway, the teacher later says he said to the gunman: ‘You can shoot me now.’ The young man then lowered his weapon and said: ‘That’s enough for today.’ The teacher then apparently asks Robert S. to accompany him into a room for a conversation. As the gunman then goes to the door, he is suddenly pushed into the room by the teacher and locked in. Shortly afterwards, Robert S. shoots himself.”
Hamburg forensic medicine prepares reports on the Erfurt case
Hamburg forensic medicine was later involved in coming to terms with the events at school with an expert opinion. Püschel explains: “The background is the following: After his research into the school massacre, an Erfurt lawyer alleged that two students and three of the teachers who were killed only died between one and two hours after they were shot by Robert S. They received no medical help during that time.”
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The forensic doctor explains further: “Our report was primarily about whether it was clear from the autopsy reports and other circumstances whether and to what extent there were opportunities for rescue for the victims. Overall, it was clear to our experts in Hamburg that those killed had suffered severe injuries to internal organs and large blood vessels as a result of the shots, so that there was no chance of survival. They were clearly fatal gunshot wounds.”
After the shooting in Winnenden there was a groundbreaking verdict
Later, there were other events in Germany that were similar to the Erfurt shooting. “For example, there was the shooting spree in Winnenden on March 11, 2009,” said Püschel. “The perpetrator at the time was a 17-year-old. This teenager shot students and teachers at the Albertville secondary school in Winnenden with a Beretta 92 pistol. K. killed 15 people, injured 14 others and finally shot himself. The 17-year-old fired a total of 112 shots.”
“The weapon that Tim K. used in this bloody crime had belonged to his father Jörg K.,” says Mittelacher. “Jörg K. had kept the Beretta under his sweaters in the bedroom closet. There was a magazine in the bedside table. The father later had to appear in court. Jörg K. should have expected that his son would use the weapon, the indictment said. In this case, there was finally a groundbreaking verdict: the gunman’s father was sentenced to 18 months in prison on probation on February 1, 2013. The responsible regional court is convinced that Jörg K. is complicit in the mass murder that his son committed.”
Updated: Sat., October 7, 2023, 7 a.m
More articles from this category can be found here: Hamburg
2023-10-07 05:02:59
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