German school shooter did it 'for fun', hostage tells newspaper

A man held hostage by a teenager on a shooting spree said in an interview published yesterday that the boy described killing 12 people at his former high school as "fun" and wanted to attack a second school.

Igor Wolf, 41, told the Stern weekly that Tim Kretschmer jumped into the back seat of his car after fleeing the school, put a gun to Wolf's head and forced him to drive away at high speed.

Wolf said he asked Kretschmer, 17, why he had killed people at the school.

"He answered very loudly: 'For fun - because it's fun'," Wolf told Stern.

Kretschmer also asked: "Do you think we can find another school?" according to Wolf, who said he distracted Kretschmer by changing the subject.

Wolf also recalled that the killer pointed a 9mm Beretta pistol at him with his right hand and used his left hand to reload.

"He was preparing himself for the next shooting - that's what went through my mind," Wolf said.

Afraid for his life, Wolf veered his car off the road and escaped on foot unharmed when he caught sight of a police car. Wolf said he had considered trying to escape at a red light but saw children and women pushing strollers.

"He would have immediately started to shoot, whether at children or old people," Wolf said.

Excerpts from the interview were released ahead of its publication today.

The Associated Press attempted, through police, to get into contact with Wolf to interview him.

Police spokesman Fritz Mehl said Wolf had agreed to give his story exclusively to another publication.

Stern news editor Hans-Peter Junker declined to comment on whether Stern paid for the interview. Media in Germany and other European countries often pay for high-profile, exclusive interviews.

Kretschmer killed 12 students and teachers at his former school and a bystander on 11 March before taking Wolf captive.

After the drive, the troubled teenager killed two more people before fatally shooting himself in the head.

On Tuesday, Kretschmer's parents and sister issued a statement saying they had been agonising over how they failed to notice Tim's "despair and hatred".

Expressing shock and sorrow, they said they never imagined him capable of such atrocities.

Yesterday, the mayor of Winnenden, the small town in southwestern Germany where the school shooting occurred, expressed gratitude to those around the world who had sent condolences.