Berlin  - Friends described the German teenager who killed 15 people in a school shooting spree Wednesday as a quite boy with a liking for guns.

"We often practised with air pistols and airsoft (compressed air) guns in his father's cellar," a youth who identified himself as Dustin told n-tv television. "He always hit the bulls-eye."

Tim K, who killed himself after being cornered by police 40 kilometres from the shooting in the south-west town of Winnenden, grew up in a wealthy family.

"He got nearly everything he wanted," said Dustin. "He was quiet when he was at school and never went to parties. He had friends, but not many. They were interested in him only because he had money."

Police said Tim K stole the gun he used from his father, a member of a marksmen's club who kept 18 pistols and rifles at home, all but one of them locked in a safe.

Other acquaintances told the newspaper Die Welt that Tim K was a table-tennis fan who had an arsenal of air guns and hundreds of horror films in his bedroom.

The owner of the marksmen's club frequented by Tim K and his father described them as kind people.

The son "was a good-looking young man" who never touched alcohol when he was at the club, she said. "I'd never have dreamt he was capable of doing such a thing.

The 17-year-old gunman killed nine students and three teachers, all but one of them female, at the school in Winnenden, near Stuttgart. He also killed three a clinic employee and two car salesmen in what was one of Germany's worst-ever shooting sprees.

The youth was a pupil at the school until 2007 and started an apprenticeship after he left. (dpa)