German School Massacre

Police say a total of 18 people were killed Friday morning in a rampage by a recently expelled student and a companion who opened fire inside an east German high school.

German television said the dead included 14 teachers, 2 students, a policeman, and one of the gunmen. At least six people were wounded.

The dead gunmen reportedly shot himself. The other gunmen held a classroom of hostages before police broke in. The commandos were called to Johann Gutenberg High School in Erfurt after shots were reported at about 11 a.m.

Four dead -- two teachers

Shocked students who fled the shooting reported seeing a man dressed all in black roaming the hallways with a gun.

"I heard shooting and thought it was a joke," said 13-year-old Melanie Steinbrueck, choking back tears. "But then I saw a teacher dead in the hallway in front of Room 209 and a gunman in black carrying a weapon."

"The guy was dressed all in black — gloves, cap, everything was black," said Juliane Blank, 13. "He must have opened the door without being heard and forced his way into the classroom."

"We ran out into the hallways. We just wanted to get out," she said.

Outside the school, a police officer with a megaphone urged parents to register their kids' names before leaving the scene. Groups of dazed and shocked students huddled in the street, hugging and crying.

A handwritten sign reading "HILFE" — Help — was pasted to a fourth-floor window and the face of a girl could be seen through the window in the classroom.

Police said they received a call at 11:05 a.m. from the school janitor, who said someone was shooting in the building. An initial team of officers arrived on the scene shortly after and entered the school. One of the policemen was among those killed.

Ambulances and police cars massed in front of the school, where several hundred children in grades five through 12 were in classes when the shooting began.

Sixth-grader Martin Streng said he was in math class when he heard gunfire coming from a classroom down the hall. As he and other students filed into the hallway to flee the building, they saw a man with a gun down the corridor behind them, Streng said.

It was Germany's second school shooting in two months. In February, a 22-year-old German who recently lost his job shot and killed two former bosses and his old high school's principal in a rampage outside Munich.