16-Year-Old Suspect Arrested After Attack at Welfen-Gymnasium in Schongau, Bavaria

A suspected attack at the Welfen-Gymnasium in Schongau, Bavaria, left at least two 13-year-old girls seriously injured and prompted a maxi police operation in the Bavarian town of about 12,000 residents on the Lech River.

“- Published Two 13-year-old girls have been seriously injured and a 16-year-old suspect arrested after an incident at a school in Upper Bavaria, Germany”

BBC

Police said the 16-year-old suspect initially fled but was arrested shortly after, and authorities later said the adolescent "agito da solo" and that the two girls "non sono in pericolo di vita".

BBC

Euronews reported that the attack happened both inside the Welfen-Gymnasium and in the immediate vicinity of the school, while the Journal said the first calls to emergency services came at around 12.50 pm local time.

DW reported that the suspect carried knives and a firearm, and that when the firearm malfunctioned he used a knife to injure two schoolgirls.

The Journal said police spokesman Michael Spessa told it that "two seriously injured girls were taken to hospital" and that investigators expected the number of injured to rise.

German Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the suspect had been previously subjected to psychiatric care and that there were indications the alleged author was a former student of the school, while DW quoted Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt describing the suspect as a "former pupil at the school".

DW said Dobrindt described the suspect as possibly suffering a "mental health emergency" and added that "The teachers and the police officers who had by then arrived on the scene were able to overpower the suspect,".

Blick

The Journal reported that Herrmann told a local broadcaster the suspect was armed with a "knife and a firearm," and that police expected the number of injured to rise even as Spessa said the two girls’ lives were not in danger.

RTL Today said Dobrindt described the incident as a rampage committed by a lone perpetrator and said the two girls appeared to be "random victims, according to our assessment, who happened to be in his path at that time".

Corriere della Sera reported that Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the arrestee had both a knife and a pistol with him and that investigations had not yet determined any links between the assailant and the injured girls.

Authorities urged people to avoid the area around the school, and a contact point for parents and relatives of the school’s pupils was set up at Schongau’s fire station as police continued to determine whether there was any specific relationship between the suspect and the injured girls.

“A 16-year-old boy was arrested on Wednesday after seriously injuring two 13-year-old female students with a knife at a secondary school in Schongau, Bavaria (south), according to German authorities”

Boursorama

The Journal said police were keeping an open mind on motive, with Spessa telling it that "Everything is possible, from a crime linked to a relationship to a random act of violence" as investigators worked in all directions.

Corriere della Sera said the alarm was triggered around 12:50 at the Welfen-Gymnasium and that the dynamics of the attack and possible motive were not yet clear, while Le Monde reported that police said the two 13-year-old girls were "not in mortal danger."

The Journal placed the Schongau attack in a broader pattern of rare but not unknown school violence in Germany, citing that in 2002 a 19-year-old gunman killed 16 people including 12 teachers and two pupils in a school in Erfurt.

Euronews also referenced past German school violence, including that in 2002 a 19-year-old armed attacker killed 16 people in a school in Erfurt, and that last year a 17-year-old injured a 45-year-old teacher in Essen.