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At least 16 people, including pupils and teachers, have been shot dead, after a former pupil opened fire at a school in southern Germany.
The 17-year-old attacker died later in a shootout with police in Wendlingen, near Stuttgart.
The suspect, referred to as Tim K, shot indiscriminately at the Albertville high school in the small market town of Winnenden on Wednesday, before stealing a car in an attempt to escape, police say.
Dressed in black combats, Tim K had entered the school at about 0930 [0830 GMT] and opened fire, killing nine students aged between 14 and 15, and three teachers.
A passerby died after the teenager stole the car, and two passersby died in the final shootout between Tim K and the police.
Erwin Hetger, a regional police chief, said: "He went into the school with a weapon and carried out a bloodbath. I've never seen anything like this in my life."
Konrad Gelden, a local police chief said the teenager was "constantly reloading his weapon".
Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, said: "It is unimaginable that in just seconds, pupils and teachers were killed, it is an appalling crime. This is a day of mourning for the whole of Germany."
'Quiet student'
Petra Wischgoll, a journalist in Cologne, told Al Jazeera that police believe the suspect had finished school last year.
"He was always a very quiet student, who never did anything, and wasn't really big in the picture," Wischgoll reported.
"He was very quiet and nobody ever thought of him much. So everybody is very surprised that it was him doing the shooting."
Lothar Becker, a journalist with ZDF, a German broadcaster, told Al Jazeera the suspect was "a normal young guy, from a family with no financial problems, in an area with no criminal problems".
He said it was "probably the worst school massacre we ever had in Germany".
"He fired without any targets, he just fired into the classrooms and hit the students and teachers," Becker said.
After Tim K fled, he shot a passerby before his final shoot-out with police, where two passers-by were killed.
Witnesses said students jumped from the windows of the school building after the teenager opened fire.
'Sprayed bullets'
N-TV, a German television station, quoted a witness as saying: "The gunman just sprayed bullets all around him."
The TV station said the teenager was known to police.
The attack is Germany's worst school shooting since 2002, when 16 people were killed at a high school in Erfurt in eastern Germany by a 19-year-old former student, who then turned the gun on himself.
PHOTO CAPTION
German Special Police Forces leave the Albertville school in Winnenden near Stuttgart, Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2009.
Al-Jazeera
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