Pupil kills himself in school shooting

A pupil shot and wounded a woman teacher and then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in Germany yesterday.

A pupil shot and wounded a woman teacher and then committed suicide by shooting himself in the head in Germany yesterday.

Panic broke out when the 16-year-old boy drew a gun and fired two shots as a biology lesson began at 9am in the state-run comprehensive school in Coburg, northern Bavaria. Twostudents were slightly injured in the rush to flee and another jumped from an upstairs window, but was unhurt.

The boy then fired at one teacher and missed but he hit another female teacher who had run to the classroom and attempted to prise the gun from his hand. She was wounded in the thigh.

Police said the boy then pulled a second high-calibre revolver from his bag and shot himself in the head. "We know nothing about the motives," a police spokeswoman said.

Police said that the boy's grandfather was a registered gun instructor who advised a local amateur shooting club.

The shooting was the latest in a series of serious incidents at German schools in which pupils have opened fire.