STUNNED Germans flock to churches to pray for the souls of the 16 dead from one of the worst shooting rampages in recent memory, and this nation is asking itself a simple yet profoundly difficult question - why?
Last Wednesday, quiet 17-year-old Tim Kretschmer took a 9mm Beretta pistol from his father's bedroom and killed 15 people, including 12 at his former school in the small town of Winnenden, near Stuttgart, before having a shootout with police and killing himself. Five students and two policemen are still in hospital.
"He came into the classroom, spoke to a friend of mine and said look at what's going to happen', then he shot a girl right in her head. It was awful. I can't remember exactly what happened, but he aimed at females and then shot wildly around himself," said a student who was in a classroom where four teenagers died.
While investigators are trying to identify Kretschmer's motive, calls for bans on violent computer games and guns are growing. But Germans are also pointing the finger of blame at the boy's parents after it was claimed that Kretschmer was suffering from depression for five months last year and inexplicably broke off his treatment.
The parents have been reported as claiming he was not having psychiatric treatment but doctors at a clinic said he was an outpatient.
The popular Bild newspaper said it was difficult to avoid asking why Kretschmer's parents had not taken more notice and care of their son.
Kretschmer fired over 100 rounds in the killing spree, which began at the Albertville Realschule and continued in the gardens of a clinic, where he killed a man, and then in the neighbouring town of Wendlingen, where he shot dead a salesman and a customer at a car showroom before being wounded by police and turning the gun on himself.
He was found to be carrying a further 130 bullets when he died.
The bloodbath was the worst school shooting in Germany since 2002, when a former pupil killed 14 teachers, two students and a police officer at Erfurt in the central state of Thuringia.
Psychotherapist Dr Christian Ldke said such rampages are almost always planned months in advance.
He said there were probably very serious relationship problems at Kretschmer's home and surmised that the killer had very low self-esteem.
Authorities and friends said that Kretschmer played table tennis and lifted weights but his main interests were shooting and his computer, on which investigators have found pornography, violent games and horror and action films.
Kretschmer's lack of self-esteem should have been a warning signal for his family, claim experts. They say his anger must have been building up for years, leading to the careful planning of an atrocity which would make him notorious.
Professor Gerhard Roth, from the Institute for Brain Research at Bremen University, says there is evidence that violent computer games do play a role in such tragedies. Having the access to weapons and a trigger incident which pushes the killer over the edge are other key factors in such tragedies, he added.
Kretschmer's parents and his 14-year-old sister have gone into hiding.
Lawyers say that if it is shown that the father, a successful businessman, left the pistol where a child known to be suffering from depression could get hold of it, he may face a jail sentence of five years for negligent homicide.
He might also face financial ruin from the 15 civil cases which could be brought by the families of the dead. The 1 million third-party insurance which is obligatory for licensed gun owners in Germany would in no way cover it.
Professor Roth said that some German states have instituted screening procedures to pick up warning signals in individuals from an early stage, enabling some kindergarten children to be be given counselling.
However, he said, few states are heeding calls to employ more psychologists to assist teachers who are ill-equipped to deal with problem children.
Kretschmer's parents are being described as hard-working people and a published interview with his grandparents reports them as saying that he played a protective role towards his younger sister.
But schoolmates say the boy, who left Albertville last year to attend a private commerce school as part of grooming to take over his father's flourishing packaging business, was unpopular.
Classmate Armen M said: "He was a year ahead of me, but I'd heard of him and I know the girls especially didn't like him."
Of the attack, Armen said: "My knees went so wobbly. I can't remember everything. It's not easy when you see your classmates getting shot around you. I know a few kids who can't open their mouths now and won't be able to for days to come."
Gunther Oettinger, the Minister- President of Baden-Württemberg, the state where the tragedy occurred, made the first entry in a book of condolence. He wrote: "We are standing here stunned, horrified and helpless. Words fail us, we have no answers."
