07', 08', 09'...3 Years Running, Deadly School Shootings, early Spring Semester

Thorough Thursdays--Dateline: Crazy People hate being called crazy.
All the facts have not come out yet about this horrifying student shooting in Winnenden, Germany, but the ones that have are scary as hell. In case you have not heard somehow, yesterday, Tim Kretschmer, a 17 year old, stole a pistol and several boxes of ammunition from his father’s collection and traveled to his former school, Albertville-Realschule. He opened fire in three classrooms, and when police arrived and exchanged fire with him, he fled the scene but continued to shoot and kill others during his attempt to evade authorities. After nearly 2 hours of rampage, this kid left 15 people dead before either killing himself, or dying from a wound inflicted by police gunfire, that has yet to be determined. Though he used 60 rounds of ammunition, police say he was not shooting wildly, as he hit most of his victims in the head. 11 of the 12 victims shot at the school were women, including 8 students and 3 teachers.

According to police, who have begun to investigate every detail of this kid’s life, the night before the attacks, he had an online conversation with an unknown user. Since the user was unknown, it leads me to believe it was a random screen name from any number of German chat rooms. But apparently he warned that user that,

"Everyone laughs at me. No one recognizes my potential. I mean this seriously. I have got a weapon here and tomorrow I am going to go to my former school and give them hell. "

Whoever he was speaking with replied in a sarcastic tone something to the effect of, I’ll believe it when I see it buddy, and Kretschmer assured him further saying

“Maybe I would escape, keep your ear to the ground. You'll hear from me tomorrow morning. Just notice the name of the place, Winnenden. Don't say anything to the police."SCARY

Every time this happens, we dismiss these people as crazy. The media brings up their trouble they had making friends in school, violent video games and music, getting made fun of, and a dysfunctional family. But it seems like the people engaging in these insane killing sprees are getting less and less insane. The killers from Columbine were outcasts at their preppy high school, but weren’t loners in any way, belonging to a “trench coat mafia” that students said 4 other members belonged to. Like Chris Rock said, “In the year book there was 6 of em’. I ain’t have 6 friends in high school….I don’t even have 6 friends now.” The kids were disturbing at the time, but did not belong in a nuthouse beforehand. They were just weirdoes going to school like everyone else. They weren’t crazy, they just had crazy potential.

The gunman from NIU Steven Kazmierczak was an Illinois grad student. He was outgoing, he had a decent job, he used to take anti depressants and seemed distant in the weeks prior according to his girlfriend, but there’s nothing alarming here until he drives to DeKalb and goes off. Again, not crazy, but crazy potential.

Tim Kretschmer, gunman from Winnended, Germany.
Then there’s Tim Kretschmer from Wednesday’s shooting in Germany. He had no history of violence or bad behavior, was a loner in class but he’d since moved on from the school and began working, and because of his tough time at Albertville-Realschule, he clearly resented the students and teachers who attend class and work there. He has trouble with girls, as many 17-year olds do, and because he was never a popular kid, he feels slighted and he tells a stranger, that no one takes him seriously, or appreciates his potential. Once again, an unfortunate, but common situation. A 17-year old confused about his self-esteem and upset that people don’t appreciate his character. But suddenly, the next day he kills 15 people, 11 of them women by shooting most of them in the head. He wasn’t crazy, but he had crazy potential, and it became all too kinetic yesterday morning.

When a kid or teenager gets ripped on or disrespected, it can suck. In your formative years, the desire to be well-liked by peers is one of, if not the strongest motives by which we make decisions in our young lives. When you are on the bottom of that spectrum, and you lose hope that your peers will like you, the disappointment gets internalized and the person who experiences that is inclined to harbor feelings of resent and self-pity. The only way for those feelings to be externalized is through hoping and wishing that one day, the people who made you feel so bad will be sorry for treating you that way and regret their actions in the past. Some people grow up and get over wishing for revenge, some move on to get makeovers, boob jobs, and then they’re on the Maury Show talking about I used to be a Geek, but now I’m Super Chic, and apparently some, who have the resources to take revenge, (i.e. Lots of guns and lots of ammo) do so, immediately.

I do not label these kids as crazy, I label them as common. And in the US, in Germany, and many other countries, common people are entitled to the right to own a gun as long as you’re not crazy, and you have no felonies or have never been in a mental institution. But some common people have crazy potential. There are a lot of angry people who would love to take revenge on those who’ve wronged them. So why provide them with a quick, cheap, and deadly resource to do so?