15-year-old convicted of shooting his classmate in the head
A 15-year-old fatally shot his classmate in the head last year. The court ruled it as murder and sentenced him to several years in juvenile detention. During the trial, the teenager apologized to the victim's family.
A 15-year-old was convicted of murder and sentenced to eight years and six months in juvenile detention for fatally shooting his 14-year-old classmate in the head at a school in Lower Franconia. The Regional Court of Würzburg found that the teenager had murdered the 14-year-old Italian boy in Lohr am Main in September 2023, a court spokeswoman said. The maximum sentence for murder in juvenile court is ten years.
The large juvenile chamber followed the views of the prosecution and the civil plaintiff, who considered the murder to have been committed with intent. The defense had argued for a charge of manslaughter.
The 15-year-old German had shot and killed the 14-year-old Italian boy with a single shot from a pistol on the grounds of a school in Lohr am Main, northwest of Würzburg, in September of last year. He admitted to the fatal shot at the beginning of the trial, but claimed that it was not intentional. In his final statement, the 15-year-old apologized to the bereaved and expressed his deep regret.
The parents of the deceased Italian boy are civil plaintiffs in the proceedings. At the start of the trial, they made it clear that they were particularly interested in clarifying the motive and receiving an apology. The two boys attended the same middle school in the small town in the Spessart. Due to the defendant's age, the law requires a closed-door trial.
The teenager was charged with murder due to deliberately shooting and killing his classmate, an act that was later confirmed by the court. Despite the defense arguing for a charge of manslaughter, the court upheld the murder charge, recognizing the intent behind the fatal act.
