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The gunman who killed 15 people at a German school was shot dead on Wednesday by police after the shooting spree, police said.

The death toll has risen from previous 10, including nine students and one teacher at the school.

A shootout broke out afterwards when the police tried to catch him, backed by helicopters. Two additional passers-by were killed and two policemen seriously injured, bringing the total death toll to 16 including the gunman, a police spokesman said.

German school -shooting

In early reports, the German mass circulation newspaper Bild reported on its website that the attacker killed himself at a park house of a shopping center at about 12:35 local time. His parents reportedly have 18 guns in house.

German school -shooting

An armed police officer stands in front of the Albertville school in Winnenden near Stuttgart, Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2009. Police say a gunman dressed in a black combat uniform opened fire at a high school in southern Germany on Wednesday, killing at least 10 people and injuring others before fleeing the scene.

The killing, which local authorities said was the worst school shooting in Germany in seven years, occurred at 9:30 a.m. local (0830 GMT) time at the Albertville high school in Winnenden near Stuttgart. The gunman later fled the school to the centre Winnenden, a town of 28,000, an eyewitness said.
Rescue teams and police forces stand in front of the Albertville school in Winnenden near Stuttgart, Germany, Wednesday, March 11, 2009.

Earlier reports said the killer, 17-year-old, is a former student of the school with 1,000 students. The school was evacuated immediately after the shooting.
An undated handout picture shows the Albertville school in southwestern German town of Winninden near Stuttgart.

At least ten helicopters are hovering over the scene amid a mass police search, German television reports said.
An undated handout picture shows the Albertville school in southwestern German town of Winninden near Stuttgart

Police is searching the parents’ house of the suspect, the German televion n-tv reported.

Germany has seen several school shootings in past years.

German school -shooting

In April 2002, a gunman killed 17 and eventually himself at a high school in the eastern city of Erfurt, which was the worst school shooting recorded in the country.

German school -shooting

German school -shooting