Knife attack on school campus in Gosen-Neu Zittau: 19-year-old remanded in custody
Following the fatal knife attack on a school campus in Gosen-Neu Zittau, the 19-year-old suspect has been remanded in custody. He is accused of killing his ex-girlfriend and a nursery school teacher.
Double murder at school: suspect remanded in custody after knife attack in Brandenburg
One day after the fatal attack on a school campus in Gosen-Neu Zittau, the 19-year-old suspect has been remanded in custody on the orders of a judge. This was announced by police to the German Press Agency. The German national is accused of double murder. A knife is believed to have been the murder weapon.
According to WELT, the suspect is alleged to have killed an 18-year-old schoolgirl and a 30-year-old nursery school teacher on the school grounds near Berlin on Thursday. The public prosecutor's office stated that the schoolgirl was the suspect's ex-girlfriend. The teacher is said to have attempted to help her — and lost his life in the process. Police and prosecutors have so far made no further statements on the motive or the exact sequence of events; investigators are treating it as a "crime of passion".
School opened as a place of mourning
On the day following the attack, deep shock prevailed in the town near Berlin. The school was opened on Friday as a "meeting space". According to Michael Kunz, spokesman for parent company Academedia Education GmbH, at least half of the pupils — some accompanied by family members — came to mourn together. School psychologists and an emergency team from the education authority were on site. "This is nothing that is normal at a school," said Kunz. "The pupil was well known to everyone."
Again and again, people — often children with their parents — laid down flowers, candles and handwritten notes. One of them read: "We miss you so much!" On another piece of paper, a child wrote to the murdered teacher: "You were a great nursery school teacher. I miss you."
On the evening of the attack itself, well over a hundred people had gathered at the school to mourn together. Many wept and held one another.
School operations to resume gradually
According to Kunz, whether regular classes can resume in the coming week remains uncertain. "Whether we will manage that in the coming week remains to be seen." Early in the week there is to be a large gathering of the pupil body, accompanied by a minute's silence and collective remembrance. The private operator Docemus runs a gymnasium, secondary school and technical secondary school. The state primary school on the campus intends to resume regular classes from Monday, according to the education ministry; the emergency team with school psychologists is to remain present. "No one should have to face what they experienced alone," said Oder-Spree district.
Reactions from politics and society
Brandenburg's education minister Gordon Hoffmann (CDU) said: "I witnessed great sadness and shock in the schools today." He emphasised that teachers were responding sensitively to the needs of pupils, but themselves also required psychological support. Minister-President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) said: "This act shocks our entire state."
The network of Brandenburg women's shelters issued a statement: "The response to this act cannot be solely about how to make schools safer. It must be: how do we protect women from violence by partners and ex-partners?"
The football club of the murdered teacher, SG Grün-Weiß Deutsch Wusterhausen, also publicly bid farewell to him. He had been "goalkeeper of our first men's team and for many years a committed goalkeeping coach," according to a Facebook post by the club. "He was much more than a coach and player. He was a loyal companion, a kind-hearted person and an important part of our club family. His death leaves a gap that is hard to put into words."
Oder-Spree district authority stated: "Our sympathy goes out in these hours to the relatives, the friends of the victims — and to all pupils and teachers who experienced something unspeakable on Thursday."
Source: WELT