Gunman’s Family Apologizes

The family of the German school gunman who killed 16 people and himself apologized Thursday for the pain he caused, saying they were at a loss to explain his pent-up “hate and desperation” that exploded into a blood bath.

In a signed letter published in local newspapers, Robert Steinhaeuser’s parents and older brother said they were filled with grief and torment after he gunned down 13 teachers, two teenage students and a policeman last Friday at a secondary school in the eastern city of Erfurt that had expelled him in October.

“Until this brutal, crazed act, we were an absolutely normal family and we knew a different Robert,” the family said.

Steinhaeuser, 19, had joined a gun club and, a few weeks after he was expelled from school, received a weapons permit that allowed him to own a pistol and pump-action shotgun that he sneaked into the school. Police say that even on the morning he set out to kill, his parents still believed he was attending classes.

“Since this terrible deed of last Friday, we are asking ourselves again and again where Robert’s hate and desperation came from and why we never found out about it beforehand,” the letter says.

“We are infinitely sorry that our son and brother brought such terrible suffering upon the victims and their relatives, the people of Erfurt ... and all of Germany.”

Steinhaeuser’s older brother, Peter, said the family knew Robert had trouble in school and had joined a gun club but that they had no clue he had bought weapons and had been expelled for faking a doctor’s note.

A memorial service for the victims was planned for today in Erfurt’s main square.

Meanwhile, in western Germany on Thursday, police arrested a teenager suspected of trying to gas teachers and pupils at his former school.