Teacher talked school killer out of continuing massacre

April 28, 2002 4:01 PM

Teacher talked school killer out of continuing massacre A very gutsy teacher who seems to have helped in saving lives in the German school killings.
posted by Postroad (15 comments total)

registration required.
posted by quonsar at 4:02 PM on April 28, 2002

nevertheless skallas, the teacher is a hero, and the shooter cowardly.
posted by quonsar at 4:14 PM on April 28, 2002

I'm sure that punk thought he was a bad motherfucker. But he failed to recognize that being young only makes you think you're invincible.
posted by kindall at 4:45 PM on April 28, 2002

CNN is reporting:

"Grube said authorities believe the killer had a Web site and were investigating a home page bearing his name and picture. But someone changed the page 12 hours after his death, Grube said, raising the possibility that the current version is bogus."

I wonder if the wayback machine caught it. I found this guestbook entry, but for all I know, "Robert Steinhouser" could be like searching "John Smith" for results. Furthermore, way to go John McNerney of Cypress, Texas for registering the killer's name on 4/27. Mr McNerney appears to be an avid Civilization player.
posted by Hankins at 5:00 PM on April 28, 2002

[The] spate of violent incidents in France, Germany and other countries has forced Europeans to take a hard and often uncomfortable look at their own societies, and to conclude that readily available guns and mass shootings are no longer exclusively American phenomena.

in the Paris suburb of Nanterre... killing eight councilors and wounding more than a dozen other people.

armored car heists using rocket-propelled grenades

dramatic slaying of a policeman in Vannes, in northwestern France, by a man armed with a Kalashnikov rifle and a .357-caliber handgun

Switzerland, a gunman.... a regional parliament meeting in Zug on Sept. 27, killing 14 people and wounding 14 more

Netherlands... a 17-year-old shot and wounded five people
posted by NortonDC at 5:03 PM on April 28, 2002

Yeah, Europe is socking to the US when it comes to violence. That German killed more people than the Columbine guys (ditto for the Dunblane school massacre).. although there were two Columbine guys so if you count the suicides, the totals are the same AFAIR.
posted by wackybrit at 5:45 PM on April 28, 2002

They're already trying to blame this on violent video games.

That didn't take long!
posted by mark13 at 5:59 PM on April 28, 2002

Of course it was the video games, i mean there is no way, that the fact he ruined his chances of going to University and getting a decent job had anything to do with it.
posted by Zool at 6:11 PM on April 28, 2002

“I'm sure that punk thought he was a bad motherfucker.”

Oh, no, no, no. I can almost positively assure you that this kid, Steinhauser, thought just the opposite of himself.
posted by raaka at 6:33 PM on April 28, 2002

re: violent video games to blame for massacre?
In a sign that the bloodbath may feature in the campaign for national elections this year, Edmund Stoiber, conservative challenger to Schroeder, said violent games should be banned.

According to Der Spiegel news magazine, Steinhauser spent much of his time playing violent computer video games. His favourite was called "Counterstrike" in which anti-terror units wearing masks battle each other to death.

So that's two paragraphs on games, while a bad relationship with his parents gets a quote..
A former classmate, Isabell Hartung, told Reuters that Steinhauser was intelligent and well-liked by his peers. But she said he often fought with teachers and had "bad relations with his parents."

which do you think screwed up his psychology more?
{good analysis via shacknews}
posted by sixtwenty3dc at 6:50 PM on April 28, 2002

Silly question, but I wonder why the kid didn't try to escape from the art room. I mean he could have just shot the door open...
posted by timyang at 7:47 PM on April 28, 2002

yeah, but he must have known he was going to get caught sooner or later. he probably expected to get shot by police or to kill himself eventually, this isn't the type of thing you usually walk away from.
posted by Hackworth at 8:32 PM on April 28, 2002

Anti-terror units battle each other to death? Who writes this stuff?
posted by ODiV at 9:12 PM on April 28, 2002

Shoot the door open? Actually, it occurred to me when I read the article that it was very odd to have a school room door that couldn't be unlocked from the inside. Could that be accurate?
posted by DevilsAdvocate at 11:05 AM on April 29, 2002

This has a slightly different angle on what went on.

According to this report, the teacher locked himself in a storage room to hide. He opened the door when he heard someone outside and found himself confronting the killer. He then showed his adaptiblity.

It's interesting that "taking refuge in the storage room" has become "stepping out of an art classroom" in the retelling. I wonder who needs a hero in this case.
posted by joaquim at 11:24 AM on April 29, 2002