Teenager remanded in custody after attack on Bavarian gymnasium
Following a knife attack on a gymnasium in Schongau, a 16-year-old student is being held in custody. Two 13-year-old girls sustained serious injuries.
Teenager remanded in custody after attack on Bavarian gymnasium
Following a violent attack on Wednesday in the Bavarian town of Schongau, a 16-year-old student has been remanded in custody. The teenager allegedly inflicted serious injuries on two 13-year-old girls with a blade inside the gymnasium building. He faces charges of attempted murder in two cases, police and the prosecution told the DPA news agency on Thursday. The information comes from ČT24.
The suspect is from Croatia and was already known to security authorities. He was undergoing psychiatric treatment. Munich's public prosecutor's office is conducting proceedings against him over two incidents from the current year – including alleged intimidation of fellow pupils and promotion of school massacres on online platforms. Nevertheless, officials and prosecutors stated that during these investigations, there were no grounds for his detention.
Bavaria's school minister Anna Stolz visited the affected gymnasium and thanked two teachers who apprehended the alleged perpetrator, as well as pupils who immediately assisted the injured girls. "Without their intervention, one of the victims would probably have lost her life," Stolz told the DPA. "To me, they are real heroes." According to eyewitnesses, pupils removed their shirts and applied makeshift pressure bandages to the wounded. Officers and teachers overpowered the attacker, and both a stabbing weapon and a firearm were seized from him.
In addition to the knife and pistol, investigators also seized ammunition. They are currently investigating whether the firearm, from which the suspect fired one shot before it jammed, might have been produced using 3D printing technology.
School continues in Bavaria; the summer holidays do not begin until August. Schongau is located in the south of the state near the Austrian border and has approximately 13,000 inhabitants.
Germany has experienced several acts of violence at educational institutions in recent times. In September of the previous year, for example, a young man from Kosovo attacked a teacher, a caretaker and a passer-by in Essen. Investigators suspected an Islamist motive. Also in Bavaria, a former pupil attacked two 14-year-old boys with a hammer last year.
Source: ČT24