BERLIN, March 11 -- A gunman dressed in black combat fatigues burst into a German high school Wednesday morning and launched a shooting rampage, killing 13 people before fleeing, authorities said.
Authorities said the 17-year-old suspect was fatally shot after commandeering a vehicle the city of Willenden and driving about 50 kilometers to another town, where he left the vehicle in the parking lot of a car dealership and killed two more people.
He then exchanged gunfire with police, injuring two officers, police said. It was not immediately clear whether the gunman was shot by police during that exchange or took his own life.
"He left the lot and was met by the police in an open area, near the dealership," said Fritz Mehl, a spokesman for the local police force. "Shots were exchanged. Two police officers were injured. The suspect was killed."
Wire services reported that State Interior Minister Heribert Rech said three teachers were among the dead. Police said 10 students were killed.
The gunman entered the secondary school building, where about 1,000 students ages 10 to 16 are enrolled, and began firing randomly about 9:30 a.m., police said.
Witnesses said students jumped from the windows of the school building after the gunman opened fire, wire services reported. Concerned parents quickly swarmed around the school, which was evacuated during the incident.
"He went into the school with a weapon and carried out a bloodbath," regional police chief Erwin Hetger told the Associated Press. "I've never seen anything like this in my life."
The gunman escaped the school and headed toward the Willenden city center, police said. Helicopters blanketed the area as authorities tried to pinpoint his location. Police evacuated the school and warned residents to exercise caution.
Television pictures showed dozens of heavily-armed black-clad SWAT teams entering the two-story white school building.
"Police are coming through the whole time. They're obviously looking all over town for him," Roberto Seifert, who works at a company located next to the school, told Reuters. "We've never had anything like this."
About 25,000 people live in Willenden, located in the state of Baden-Wuerttemburg, north of the Black Forest region in southwestern Germany.
Firearms are tightly regulated in Germany, but the country has been afflicted by other mass, lone-gunman shootings in the past several years.
In 2006, an 18-year-old student carrying explosives and rifles injured dozens of people in the northwestern German town of Emsdetten before killing himself. In 2002, a 19-year-old former student fatally shot 16 people at a high school in Erfurt, in eastern Germany, before taking his own life.
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