Teenager arrested after two girls wounded in Germany school attack

At least two girls have been seriously wounded and a 16-year-old suspect arrested after an attack Wednesday at a secondary school in southern Germany.

Police spokesman Michael Spessa told AFP the first calls to emergency services about the incident at Welfen grammar school in the town of Schongau came at around 12:50 pm (1050 GMT). 

"The police immediately went to the scene with a strong deployment," Spessa said, adding that a "16-year-old boy was taken into custody".

Joachim Herrmann, interior minister for Bavaria, the state where the incident took place, told a local broadcaster that the suspect was armed with a "knife and a firearm".

A large group of armed police and a fire engine could be seen outside the school late on Wednesday and a helicopter was flying above Schongau, a town of 12,000 people just north of the Alps.

The exact number of those injured is still unclear but Spessa said "two seriously injured girls were taken to hospital".

Following updates on their treatment Spessa said "we can cautiously say that the (two girls') lives are not in danger".

He added that police expected the number of injured to rise.

As for whether the attacker acted alone, Spessa said that "we currently have no indication of a second perpetrator".

- 'Investigating in all directions' -

In terms of motive, the police are currently keeping an open mind.

"Everything is possible, from a crime linked to a relationship to a random act of violence, we are investigating in all directions," Spessa said.

Police said people should avoid the area around the school following the incident.

A contact point has been set up for parents and relatives of the school's pupils at Schongau's fire station.

Serious violence at schools and other educational institutions is rare but not unknown in Germany.

Last year, a 45-year-old teacher was seriously wounded at a vocational college in the western city of Essen.

The prime suspect, a 17-year-old Kosovar was shot by police before his arrest.

Prosecutors accuse of him of acting out of "jihadist" motivations.

In January 2022, an 18-year-old German shot dead a student in a lecture hall at the University of Heidelberg and wounded three other students, before turning the gun on himself. 

On March 11, 2009, a 17-year-old teenager, Tim Kretschmer, carried out a massacre at his former secondary school in Winnenden, near Stuttgart. 

He killed 15 people -- nine students, three teachers and three passersby -- before killing himself.

In 2002, a 19-year-old gunman killed 16 people, including 12 teachers and two pupils, at a school in the eastern city of Erfurt.

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© Agence France-Presse