Karel Charva

Overview

Karel Charva was identified as the killer in a classroom gun rampage in which he sprayed bullets around a classroom of sixth-graders, killing three children, the teacher, and a policeman before killing himself. A further 13 children and another teacher were wounded, and 57 children who witnessed the killings were hospitalized with shock.

Timeline

• June 4, 1983 — Karel Charva burst into a classroom of sixth-graders with two pistols in midmorning, killed three children, their teacher and a policeman, wounded 13 other children and another teacher, and then killed himself with a gunshot.
• June 3, 1983 — The case text references this date in connection with “what exactly did he do,” but no specific event dated to June 3, 1983 is provided beyond that fragment.

The offence

Karel Charva forced his way into the classroom on the second floor of the state school 10 miles west of Frankfurt in midmorning. He entered the room after requesting an interview and then pulled out two revolvers, opened the door, and fired indiscriminately at anything.

He killed three children and a teacher. The case details name the victims as two 13-year-old girls and a 12-year-old boy, and also identify a 36-year-old teacher as among those killed. He also wounded his intended victim, Adolf Gelhaar.

Karel Charva also shot a policeman. The case text states that the two policemen at the schoolyard were unarmed and initially believed the gun shots were science experiments. Gisbert Beck, 45, thought he might check the noises and was shot dead not long after.

The text further states that Karel Charva injured a further 13 kids, with five of them seriously, before killing himself.

Investigation

Police identified the killer as 34-year-old Karel Charva, a native of Prague. A police spokesman said: "We have no idea what his motive was," and also stated: "The only witnesses are schoolchildren and they are either injured or in such an extreme state of shock that they cannot answer our questions."

The case text states that police had absolutely no idea what led Karel Charva to “flip out” and that they still had not come up with anything definite.

The text states that at no stage in investigations did police find out why he snapped.

Other details

The school incident is described as occurring at a school in Eppstein-Vockenhausen, near Frankfurt. Karel Charva had requested an interview with the headmaster. The school secretary made an appointment and gave directions where he could find another man he requested to see, Adolf Gelhaar, an English teacher, on the second floor. Once Karel Charva found his way to Gelhaar's classroom, he pulled out two revolvers, opened the door, and entered the room firing indiscriminately.

The text states that Karel Charva was born in Czechoslovakia and was granted political asylum in Germany 12 years earlier.

It also states that he had been a trainee psychologist, and that in the final few years of his life he had been driving Taxi's.

The investigation findings included that police did not establish the motive.