Student Kills 1, Injures 3, In Germany University; Gunman Dead
By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
HEIDELBERG (Worthy News) – A young gunman killed one person, injured three others, and shot himself dead in a lecture hall at Heidelberg University, in southwest Germany, police said.
The 18-year-old student opened fire as about 30 people had gathered for a biology tutorial at the university in the town of Heidelberg, said local police chief Siegfried Kollmar.
Of the four injured students, one later passed away of her wounds, authorities said, adding that the gunman died after turning the weapon on himself.
The victim who died a few hours after being shot was a 23-year-old woman, the interior minister of the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg Thomas Strobl told a news conference.
Those who suffered minor wounds were two German women and a German-Italian man, police said.
The rare campus shooting sparked a massive police response, with more than 400 officers sent to the scene, according to witnesses, but they were unable to prevent the killing.
“It breaks my heart,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said of the shooting in a statement. “It’s been reported that one student has died of her injuries,” he said. “It tears my heart apart to learn of such news.”
Authorities explained that they believe the perpetrator acted alone but that his motives remain unclear.
He opened fire with a “long gun,” police said and had a second firearm with him — along with more than 100 rounds of ammunition.
The shooting shocked Heidelberg, located south of Frankfurt, with about 160,000 residents.
Its university is one of Germany’s best-known defining itself as “an internationally networked research university dedicated to research-oriented teaching.”
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