Man fires at German schoolgirl, then turns gun on himself

Man fires at German schoolgirl, then turns gun on himself
Web posted at: 7/7/2007 8:41:8
Source ::: AFP

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany • A man who shot and wounded a school girl in south-western Germany yesterday died after turning the gun on himself, police said here.

The 24-year-old gunman shot a 16-year-old girl in the leg at a school in Kusel in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate in a suspected crime of passion, police in nearby Kaiserslautern told AFP.

The assailant fled, but when police later caught up with him and tried to arrest him, he shot himself in the head.

It was initially thought that the man had died on the spot, but police spokesman Arno Heeling said he was revived and rushed to hospital where he died several hours later.

Heeling said the gunman was not a pupil at the school but went there yesterday morning looking for the girl.

"We are not excluding the possibility that this is a crime of passion," he said.

He said the girl's life was not in danger.

Germany has seen a number of shootings at schools in recent years.

In November 2006, an 18-year-old loner obsessed with guns killed himself after storming his old school in western Germany with explosives strapped to his body, wounding 11 people. In the worst school shooting in the country in recent history, a former pupil massacred 16 people before turning the gun on himself in April 2002 in the eastern city of Erfurt.

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