German killer did it 'for fun'

BERLIN - THE man taken hostage by German gunman Tim Kretschmer last week broke his silence on Wednesday, telling a magazine that the teenager had told him it was 'for fun' and wanted to find another school.

Igor Wolf, hijacked by the 17-year-old and forced to drive 40km with a gun in his back, asked him: 'Why are you doing this s***?' 'Because it is fun. Because I find it fun,' the gunman replied, according to an interview with Mr Wolf to appear in Thursday's edition of Stern magazine.

During the trip, Kretschmer also asked Mr Wolf: 'Do you think we could find another school?' He had just killed eight girls, one boy and three teachers at the Albertville secondary school in Winnenden, southern Germany.

Not knowing the exact death toll, Kretschmer told his driver: 'I have already killed 15 people in my old school and I'm not done yet today.' A chilling prediction: he later killed three more innocent passers-by before turning the gun on himself after a shoot-out with police.

At certain points of the two-hour ordeal, Mr Wolf considered escaping but was worried Kretschmer would kill several more people.

At one town, 'we stopped at traffic lights. I thought about just tearing the door open and running away. But there were other people going about their business. A woman with a pram, other children. What do you think he would have done if I have run away?'

Mr Wolf said he was waiting for his wife on the street when the gunman yanked open the back door of his Volkswagen, jumped into the back, shoved his 9mm Beretta in his face and said: 'Drive. Quickly.' The drive came to an end when Mr Wolf deliberately crashed the car and fled with the keys, forcing Kretschmer to continue on foot. -- AFP