Original URL: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/11/21/german_school_shooting_closure/
German cops shutter school after net massacre tip-off
Authorities on alert for anniversary killings
Posted in Law, 21st November 2007 11:34 GMT
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A German secondary school was closed by police yesterday after internet investigators discovered it was being targeted for a Columbine-style killing spree.
Finnish authorities made the discovery in a chatroom and tipped off their German counterparts in Kaarst, near Düsseldorf.
They were following up the killing [1] of eight people by an 18-year-old earlier this month in Finland. The gunman was active online and posted threats on his blog and YouTube.
German police have not ruled out a link between yesterday's suspected plot and the Finland school massacre, reports say. A US teenager who was planning [2] an attack on a school near Philadelphia had chatted online with Pekka-Eric Auvinen, the Finnish shooter.
Yesterday was also the first anniversary of a shooting rampage by a former pupil at Emsdetten in Germany who injured dozens before turning his weapon on himself.
According to reports [3], another anniversary copycat attack was foiled in Cologne on Friday when police found two pupils had stockpiled weaponry. One of the suspects later committed suicide by throwing himself under a tram. ®