minutes . Student Louis Schweizer was in class when he heard the gunshots . `` When I came out , I saw the shell casings lying around everywhere , '' he said . His sister , Lisa Schweizer , also heard the shots . `` It is a tragedy , '' she said . `` One of my teachers was killed . '' Another student told CNN : `` We heard that someone was inside shooting . Then we also saw a teacher who had blood on his hands because he wanted to help a female teacher who sacrificed herself for a student -- she stood in front of a student to protect her . '' Read how students jumped from windows to escape Fifteen-year-old Natta lost a long-time friend . `` She was a very good friend of mine from soccer , and I knew her since we were four years old and it 's very hard , '' she said . Kretschmer did not shoot wildly , Rech said , contradicting earlier police statements , but hit most of his victims in the head . As the first police arrived at the school , he fled and killed
WINNENDEN , Germany -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A gunman dressed in military gear killed 15 people Wednesday in a shooting spree in Germany , police said . German shooter Tim Kretschmer , 17 , targeted females during his rampage . Tim Kretschmer , 17 , began his rampage at a school where he used to be a student in Winnenden , a small town about 20 kilometers -LRB- 12 miles -RRB- northeast of Stuttgart . Most of the victims at the school were female -- eight female students , three female teachers and one male student , said Heribert Rech , interior minister for Baden Wuerttemberg region . Rech said : `` They were completely taken by surprise . Some of the victims still had their pens in their hands . '' Kretschmer opened fire in three first floor classrooms , including a physics lab where a teacher was found dead behind her desk , Rech told a news conference . Rech said police arrived in minutes . `` This speedy intervention means they prevented further escalation of events . '' The shooting at the Albertville-Realschule Winnenden school began around 9:45 a.m. -LRB- 0845 GMT -RRB- and lasted about two