Ei-iE

A teacher was fatally wounded in an attack which took place yesterday morning in Ludwigshafen, Germany.

The 23 year-old perpetrator entered the vocational institute, Berufsbildende Schule Technik II, at around 10 o’clock in the morning armed with a knife and an air gun. A 58 year-old male teacher died after being stabbed, while the head teacher and at least another teacher were grabbed and threatened but did not suffer any injuries. The young man was soon overpowered and arrested by the police. He is currently under investigation for the motive of his crime. Other teachers and students left the school building after the fire alarm was triggered, and are receiving psychological counselling. EI member organisations in Germany expressed shock and regret about the incident. Gewerkschaft Erziehung and Wissenschaft (GEW) Chairman Ulrich Thöne said that "it is an unfortunate fact that schools have increasingly become targets of social conflict and aggression […] In the aftermath of this sad incident, we must now look ahead and think about how violence can be tackled in schools." Germany has suffered several major school shootings in recent years. Last March a teenager went on the rampage in the southwestern town of Winnenden near Stuttgart and killed 15 people before killing himself.