Father of teen who killed 15 found guilty of manslaughter in Germany

STUTTGART, GERMANY: A German man on Thursday was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and breaking gun laws after his teenager son killed 15 people at a school two years ago, DPA news agency reported.

Joerg Kretschmer, 52, was convicted of homicide through negligence and was sentenced to 21 months in prison. However, the 52-year-old businessman walked free as his sentence was suspended.

His son, Tim Kretschmer, went on a rampage two yeas ago at the Winnenden school. On March 11, 2009, the then 17-year-old teenager returned to the school he had graduated from one year earlier and opened fire on children, killing 15, before committing suicide.

The businessman was convicted as Judge Reiner Skujat ruled that he knew nearly a year before the Winnenden school shooting that his son had fantasies about killing people.

Tim went for counseling at a local clinic where he expressed his hatred towards humanity band fantasies of killing people. Despite the information revealed by psychiatrists, the businessman to his son to a local gun club in order to join him in target practice.

In this way, the Stuttgart court found him guilty of 15 counts of involuntary manslaughter and 14 counts of careless bodily harm. Kretschmer was also found guilty of failing to store his weapons properly.

Tim took a 9mm Beretta pistol from his father's bedside table where he stored it without key. In addition, the teenager gathered approximately 285 rounds of ammunition which his father left scattered around their house in south-western Germany.

Germany has strict gun registration laws, but it is legal for gun-club members and hunters to keep guns in locked cupboards at home.

The Winnenden school shooting is considered the worst of its kind since 2002, when a a 19-year-old student in the eastern city of Erfurt shot dead 16 people. Overall, Tim Kretschmer killed nine students, three teachers and three others, before taking his own life.

(BNO NEWS )