Bonn, Germany - A 16-year-old girl who attempted to kill teachers and fellow pupils at her German co-ed high school was sent to youth prison Tuesday for five years. She was foiled when another girl observed her in the school toilets preparing her pistol, sword and firebombs for the assault. The other girl was seriously wounded in the hands and arms with the sword as the would-be attacker fled.
A youth court convicted her of attempted murder, causing serious bodily harm and weapons offences, ruling that she was sane.
The May 11 attack in St Augustin, a suburb of the city of Bonn, shocked Germans, coming just two months after a boy killed 15 people and himself at his school in Winnenden near Stuttgart.
Youth courts are closed to the media, but judges announce verdicts in cases of public interest.
The girl had planned to stab a teacher to obtain a ring of school keys, then go from classroom to classroom, setting them on fire and locking the pupils inside the burning rooms. She turned herself in to police in nearby Cologne several hours later.
