Winnenden School Massacre: Charges Coming Against Father of Shooter

It was a crime that plunged Germany into grief and shock. On March 11, 2009, Tim K., a 17-year-old from the small, Baden-Württemberg town of Weiler am Stein, killed 15 people in a shooting spree that started at his former high school in Winnenden. He then shot himself.

Now, public prosecutors plan to file negligent homicide charges against Tim K.'s father. The Beretta pistol that K. used in the bloodbath was taken from the bedroom of Tim K.'s parents, where it had not been locked up in the manner prescribed by German law.

K. shot and killed a total of nine pupils at the Albertville secondary school, which he had graduated from a year earlier, in addition to three teachers. During his attempted escape, he killed a gardener before hijacking a car and driving to the town of Wendlingen, 40 kilometers (25 miles) away. There, he killed two more people before turning the weapon on himself.

'Extremely Irresponsible'

In all, K. fired 113 shots, and police found another 171 unused rounds at the various crime scenes. K.'s father, Jörg, is alleged to have been with his son when the ammunition was purchased.

K.'s father, a member of a shooting club, owned a total of 16 weapons. K. himself was an occasional visitor at the gun club, where he learned to use several different types of firearms.

Previously, families of victims had reacted with horror to news reports that Stuttgart prosecutors were considering merely levying a fine against Jörg K. In a letter, they claimed that Jörg K. had acted "extremely irresponsibly" in allowing his "psychologically ill" son "access to a weapon and 400 rounds of ammunition."

A spokesman for the Baden-Württemberg Justice Ministry said on Thursday that the case will neither be closed nor end with a fine.