THE FAMILY of the 17-year-old youth who shot dead 15 people at his former school in Germany last week has apologised in an open letter to victims’ families for “failing to notice his despair and hatred”.
Tim Kretschmer’s family said they were devastated by the “unfathomable tragedy” when their son killed nine pupils and three teachers in the town of Winnenden, near Stuttgart.
After fleeing his former school, Kretschmer killed a passerby, hijacked a car and threatened its driver before shooting two others at a car showroom and killing himself.
“Our son and brother’s appalling and incomprehensible act took away from you the most valuable and most important thing of all, a loved one,” noted the letter.
“We will always ask ourselves . . . how this could happen. How can we not have noticed his distress and his hate? Until this happened we too were a completely normal family. We never thought Tim was capable of something like this.”
The driver of the hijacked car, Igor Wolf, told Stern magazine how Kretschmer jumped into his car, pointed a gun in his face and ordered him to “drive fast”.
When Mr Wolf asked why he was killing people, Kretschmer reportedly answered: “Because it’s fun.”
“I’ve already killed 15 people today in my old school,” he reportedly said, “and that’s not all for today.” German police are to question Kretschmer’s father about how his son gained access to the 9mm Beretta handgun.
It is understood the gun was unlocked in the father’s bedroom, while 14 other weapons were stored in a weapons locker.
In light of Kretschmer’s treatment for depression last year, the unsecured gun could result in criminal charges for his father.
“There are concrete signs that the parents knew of their son’s health problems,” said prosecutors and local police in a joint statement.
“Based on this, there is reason to suspect this may be a case of involuntary manslaughter.”
Kretschmer died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to preliminary results of an autopsy released by Stuttgart prosecutors.
In a shoot-out with police, prosecutors say he was struck by police bullets in the knee and ankle.
Mr Wolf agreed with the police assessment, telling Stern: “If his parents claim he didn’t have any psychological problems, I can say I experienced something very different; it was extraordinary.”