GERMANY: A hostage drama at a German school ended peacefully last night after a 16-year-old youth armed with a pistol gave himself up to police. He surrendered peacefully after releasing his final two young hostages.
"The perpetrator was detained without resistance," a police spokesman said at the scene in Waidlingen, near Stuttgart, southern Germany. He confirmed that the youth had been armed with a pistol, but said no one had been injured during the hostage-taking, which last more than six hours.
Earlier, the youth had also freed a teacher, then two of the final four boys he had been holding, all aged between 11 and 14. The latest drama had revived painful memories of a high school massacre in Erfurt, eastern Germany, in April in which a disgruntled student who had been expelled killed 16 people before turning the gun on himself.
In this case, witnesses said the teenager drew out the pistol after walking into a computer class just before 3 p.m. A 12-year-old girl who was in the class told a local radio station that he first asked the teacher if he could use the Internet before he pulled out the gun and threatened the class.
She said he told them that "anyone who is afraid can go". Most fled, except for four who reportedly volunteered to remain behind.
Up to 120 police, including a special unit, were deployed around the school, one of three at the complex, as negotiators remained in touch with him through his mobile telephone.
They said he demanded €1 million and a getaway car. Police earlier said he appeared "very calm, very composed", but were confident that their tactics would pay off eventually. "We have reason to think we can bring the whole thing to an end peacefully," a spokesman had said, while not ruling out the possibility of having to storm the building.
Two of the final four captive boys were released in return for a new mobile telephone after the power on his own ran out, and for the telephone number of someone he trusted. Police also bought him a pizza, which like the mobile phone they deposited in a designated place in the school without coming into contact with him.
A police spokesman said earlier that the youth was believed to have been receiving psychological help. A local radio station reported he had been refused a school-leaving certificate. Other reports suggested he had been expelled. A former school spokesman said he worked for a security firm and was often seen in military clothing, including a bullet-proof vest.
In the Erfurt case, a 19-year-old student who had been expelled two months earlier shot 12 teachers, a secretary, two pupils and a police officer in the space of 15 minutes, before killing himself. - (Additional reports from AFP)