A candlelight service has been held at a town in southwest Germany after a teenager killed 15 people in a shooting spree that started at his former school.
Many of the 1000 people at the church wept and hugged each other during the service to remember the victims.
Dressed in black combat gear, Tim Kretschmer, 17, entered the school in the town of Winnenden at about 9.30am on Wednesday and began firing with a 9mm Beretta pistol at students in a classroom.
Nine students were killed, including eight teenage girls and three women teachers, as well as a person in front of a clinic opposite the school.
Police said most of the victims were shot in the head. Another seven pupils, all female, were wounded.
Kretschmer died hours later in a shoot-out in Wendlingen, 30km from the school, after killing two men in a car dealership. These killings brought the death toll to 16, including the gunman.
Chancellor Angela Merkel has declared a day of mourning for all of Germany. She told reporters in Berlin: "It is unimaginable that in just seconds, pupils and teachers were killed - it is an appalling crime."
Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said flags would fly at half-mast across the country on Thursday.
Germany has strict laws which require gun-holders to fulfil criteria on age and weapons expertise to obtain a firearms license.
Police said the gunman used a pistol registered to his father, who belongs to a shooting club and had a collection of 15 guns at home.
Previous shootings
In 2006, a masked man armed with rifles and explosives attacked a school in the western town of Emsdetten, wounding 11 people before killing himself.
In April 2002, a gunman killed 17 people, including himself, at a high school in the eastern city of Erfurt.
