Man storms German school, several hurt

STEINFURT: An 18-year-old loner obsessed with guns killed himself on Monday after storming his old school in western Germany with explosives strapped to his body and wounding 11 people, police said.   

Police found the teenage gunman's body lying in a smoke-filled classroom after he had run amok with two sawn-off shotguns, injuring a teacher, a caretaker and pupils.   

Five of the wounded were in a serious but stable condition.   

"We do not know whether the attacker died because of the explosives or whether he shot himself," state prosecutor Wolfgang Schweer said.   

The gunman was named as Sebastian Bosse, a former student at the Scholl Geschwister high school in Emsdetten near the Dutch border, who had announced the impending attack on his two Internet homepages.   

"He was a loner who was severely unhappy with his life. The statements he made could be interpreted as pointing to a spectacular suicide," Schweer said.   

"He had two homepages and he also left behind a letter."   

The websites, which were shut down by police following the attack, showed pictures of the black-haired teenager posing with rifles fitted with telescopic sights.   

According to the n-tv news channel, Bosse had written on one of his home pages: "The only thing I learnt in school is that I am a loser. I hate people. They must all die."   

Schweer said the caretaker, who was shot in the stomach, and four students -- three boys and girl -- suffered serious gunshot wounds but their lives were not in danger.   

Sixteen policeman were also injured in the drama that began just before 9:30 am (0830 GMT) when the gunman ran into the grounds of the school wearing a black gas mask and started shooting, Schweer said.   

The teacher, who is reportedly pregnant, and the caretaker were injured when they tried to confront him. The police chief in the nearby town of Muenster, Hubert Wimber, said Bosse then holed up in a room on the second floor of the school building and set off several smoke bombs.   

"Smoke was pouring out of the room. We thought the school was on fire," he said.   

"The police found him lying on the floor with two sawed-off shotguns next to him. They did not fire a single shot," Wimber added.   

He said members of a bomb disposal unit were trying to defuse explosives on Bosse's body and to make sure his car, which was parked in the street outside the school, had not been booby-trapped.   

A pupil told n-tv television news channel that he had seen the former student arrive at the school and open fire.   

"He was wearing black army boots and he was shooting all around him," the unidentified student said.   

During the standoff, most pupils at the school ran to safety in a neighbouring building and field, while others were evacuated after police had located the gunman.   

Wimber said 16 policemen had suffered severe smoke inhalation and four were being treated in hospital.   

Pupils at the school, which is situated in a middle-class neighbourhood, told reporters they had been found their alienated former schoolmate "scary".   

They said Bosse had been an avid fan of the computer war game "Counterstrike" and when the shooting began, they initially thought it was a game.   

When they realised the firing was real, they ran for their lives.   

In the worst school shooting in recent history in Germany, a former pupil massacred 16 people before turning the gun on himself in April 2002 in the eastern city of Erfurt.