Winnenden School Shooter 'Gave Online Warning'

He said the message read: "I've had enough. I'm fed up with this horrid life... Always the same".

"People are laughing at me... No-one sees my potential... I am scared, I have weapons here, and I will go to my former school tomorrow and then I will really do a grilling."

The message then continued: "Possibly I get away, so keep your ears open, you will hear from me tomorrow. Just remember the name of the place, Winnenden."

Kretschmer "grew up in a happy family and had a sister -- five years younger -- with whom he had a good relationship," Heribert Rech, interior minister of Baden-Wuerttemberg state, which includes Winnenden, told reporters.

Kretschmer "did not have many friends but did have a few ... and was interested in one particular girl," Rech said.

In Tim's village, Weiler am Stein, a community of 3,000 residents just 20 kilometers from Stuttgart, it was known that Tim's dad belonged to the local gun club. It was also known that he had 16 weapons legally stored in a safe in his house. Jörg K. had also built a firing range in the cellar, where he regularly trained. Tim himself reportedly had an arsenal of airguns in his bedroom.

During a police search of Tim's family home, officials took away a number of computers. According to the police spokesman Nikolaus Brenner, they contained violent video games. "It is unclear whether that signals a motive," he said.

"As far as I know, it is true about the weapons," Stefan, another former classmate, said. "But Tim didn't play more computer games or watch more television than me or any other of my friends."