Death toll in Austrian school shooting rises to 10; city holds vigil
June 11 (UPI) -- The death toll in a school shooting at an Austrian high school rose to 10 after a female teacher died of her injuries in the hospital.
Police in the city of Graz told CNN early Wednesday that nine of those killed were students at Dreierschutzengasse school, aged between 15 and 17. Interior Minister Gehard Karner said six of the deceased were girls and three were boys and that 12 students were in the hospital, some of them in a serious condition.
A 21-year-old former student, believed to have carried out the attack using a shotgun and a pistol that authorities believe he acquired legally, died in a school restroom from a self-inflicted gunshot.
Police said they found suicide messages on video and in a written note and safely removed a non-functioning pipe bomb during a search of his home in the Graz area.
Officials have so far declined to comment on a possible motive for Tuesday's attack but confirmed that the suspect acted alone and had not previously been in trouble with the police.
The developments came as the Austrians across the country observed a minute's silence as three days of mourning got underway for those killed in the central European country's deadliest attack in decades.
Thousands gathered in the main square in the centre of old Graz on Tuesday evening for a candlelit vigil. The mostly young people who attended, many in tears, hugged each other or knelt in quiet prayer as volunteers tended a sea of candles placed near the main fountain.
Deadly mass attacks are not unknown in the country, which has less restrictive gun ownership laws than many other European countries.
A jihadist gunman who went on the rampage in Vienna's nightlife district in 2020 killed four people and injured 23. In February, a man with links to Islamic State stabbed a 14-year-old boy to death and injured five others in an Alpine town in southern Austria.
Tuesday's attack began at about 10 a.m. local time after gunshots were heard coming from inside the school, sending pupils and teachers fleeing for their lives. One witness living in a building next door said she thought she heard 30 to 40 shots.
Police arrived at the scene in under 15 minutes, deploying the city's specialist Cobra tactical unit to the school. Authorities evacuated all pupils and staff, later confirming that the premises were secure.
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