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Breaking News
Police Say 18 Dead in German School Shooting
Aired April 26, 2002 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are breaking this shooting story that we're following out of that country. Police say 18 people and the gunman have died. At least six others were injured after a shooting in Erfurt. The Associated Press is reporting the gunman was an expelled student. We hope to have more for you on this story in the next hour. But once again, getting word that 18 people, including a gunman, an expelled student, who went into a high school in a southeastern German town have been killed in this high school in Erfurt, Germany.
Much more on this just ahead.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, we're going to get some right as a matter of fact. We're joined on the telephone by Ralph Ghoering, who is a journalist.
Ralph, are you there?
RALF GHOERING, JOURNALIST: Yes, I'm here.
HARRIS: Than you very much for talking with us right now. What can you tell us about this situation in Erfurt?
GHOERING: I can tell you that everybody says now that 18 people were killed by storming the school, by the police, and nobody knows if these people are policemen or just pupils.
HARRIS: do we know how many policemen actually were there on the scene to rush into the school once the shooting began?
GHOERING: There many policemen on the scene, I would say 200 are here. And now actually it seems it is very quiet. Two rescue helicopters flew out heavy injured people, and now we are still waiting for some news.
HARRIS: What can you tell us right now about the students there at the school? I assume they have been evacuated out of there.
GHOERING: Yes. Most of the students, I think, 80 were still in the school, are now evacuated, but some of them (ph) when the school was stormed. And I don't know if they were killed kids (ph) or not.
HARRIS: Do we know how many shooters were in the school? Reports on the wires say maybe two. Do they know if there was more than one person in that school shooting?
GHOERING: Yes, there were at least two. But somebody said there were three pupils and, yes, it's true that there were three pupils, and so they were right in the a (ph) levels, and some of the pupils stood up in the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and they just started shooting.
HARRIS: So these were three students who came into the school with guns.
GHOERING: Yes, two or three students.
HARRIS: Two or three students.
Do you know any more information, Ralf, about how it unfolded? Did they come into the school, and did they go room to room, or did they go into the hallways, or a big massive room,. like a cafeteria or something?
GHOERING: No, it was first they went into the room, the teachers, and at first, they shoot two teachers, and then one policeman and then they have done a barricade in one classroom. But nobody knew if they had hostages or if all of the other pupils were in other rooms.
HARRIS: That's incredible. Any idea how many students were at that school?
GHOERING: The school was attended by at least 600 to 800 pupils.
HARRIS: And this was a high school, so we are talking about 17, 18, 19-year-old students?
GHOERING: We are talking about students from at least 10 to 18. It means that they are from the 5th to the 12th.
HARRIS: And, finally, Ralf, can just describe for us right the scene as it is at this point?.
GHOERING: At this moment, it is very quiet here. We are all waiting for news, and the pupils are checked now in this rescue tent of the local fire (UNINTELLIGIBLE), and parents are going to bring their children home.
HARRIS: Ralf Ghoering, we thank you very much for your information. We really do appreciate that.
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