THE WINNENDEN school shooting in Germany appeared yesterday to have sparked copycat threats across the country, as two males were arrested and a school was evacuated after police received information of internet warnings.
After Tim Kretschmer’s rampage, in which 16 people died, police in the northern town of Ennepetal arrested a 17-year-old boy who allegedly bragged to his fellow pupils that he was planning an attack on his school. A search of his home revealed a stash of instructions on how to make explosives, and a “chemical substance”.
In the town of Ilsfeld, 20 miles from Winnenden, the high school was sealed off yesterday after police learned of a threat posted on an internet forum. They found no evidence to support the threat.
A 21-year-old man was arrested after threatening to kill 16 people at a school in the Soltau area. “I have a weapon and am going to kill everyone,” read an internet chat site message. He turned out to possess no weapons and claimed to have been “joking”. He could be charged with disturbing the peace.
It was also revealed yesterday that a supposed warning message from Kretschmer purporting to have been issued the day before his rampage was a hoax. Police in Winnenden are trying to establish who was responsible for it. – (Guardian service)