In pictures: German school shooting

Eighteen people have been killed in a school massacre at a German school.

The attacker - a 19-year-old expelled from the school in the eastern German city of Erfurt - barricaded himself into a classroom with several other students before turning the gun on himself.

Police rushed to the scene after shooting was reported at the school.

Pupils hugged in the street, crying as the news came that several teachers and students were dead.

A plea for help appeared in the window of a room where the gunman was barricaded with some 20 children.

Police officers wearing bulletproof vests crouched behind parked cars as they surrounded the building.

Anxious parents and children waited for the siege to come to an end.

Police say the gunman finally turned the gun on himself after killing 17 other people.