Five killed, others injured in Austrian school attack
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At least five people have been killed in an attack at a school in the Austrian city of Graz and others were injured, Austrian media including tabloid Kronen Zeitung reported on Tuesday.
Citing local police, Austrian state media ORF said several people had been seriously injured, including students and teachers. It said the suspected perpetrator, reportedly a pupil, is believed to have killed himself.
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Irish Examiner
an hour ago
- Irish Examiner
Austrian police search for answers after mass shooting in school
Austrian authorities were seeking clues on Wednesday to why a 21-year-old gunman shot dead 10 people in a rampage at his former high school before killing himself, one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the country's modern history. Police said the man acted alone, armed with a shotgun and a pistol. They are scouring his home and the internet to understand why he opened fire on the school in Austria's second city of Graz on Tuesday, before shooting himself in a bathroom. The incident was hard to take in, said a religious studies teacher at the school, Paul Nitsche, who left his classroom before the gunman tried to enter, and briefly saw him trying to shoot the lock off another door. "This is something I couldn't even imagine before," he told national broadcaster ORF. "That's what the situation was like as I ran down the stairwell. I thought to myself: 'This wasn't real.'" Some Austrian media have said the young man, who has not been identified, apparently felt bullied, though police have yet to confirm this. Authorities said the suspect did not complete his studies at the school. Police said he left a farewell note that did not reveal the motive for the attack and that a pipe bomb found at his home was not functional. Ennio Resnik, a pupil at the school, said students and teachers needed time to come to terms with what had happened, and asked that they be left in peace for a few days. "It's surreal, you can't describe or really understand it," he said, speaking to reporters outside an events centre near the school where students were being offered counselling. Some of the students gathered there cried, while others held each other. Franz Ruf, director general of public security, said investigations into the motive were moving swiftly. "We don't want to speculate at this point," he told ORF on Tuesday night. Police were on the alert for potential copycat attacks and they had received a threat against another school in Graz late on Tuesday, he said. In the earlier attack, about 17 minutes elapsed between the first emergency calls received by police about shots being fired at the school and the scene being declared safe, Ruf said. Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, says the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. The attack sparked calls for its gun laws to be tightened, including one from Graz's mayor. Police said the guns used were in the suspect's possession legally, and Ruf said that while Austrian gun laws are strict, the case was being looked into. "If there are any loopholes, they need to be closed," he said. Details of the attack have emerged slowly. Police said victims were found both outside and inside the school, on various floors. About a dozen people were injured in the attack, some seriously. Austria declared three days of national mourning, with the shootings prompting a rare show of solidarity among often bitterly divided political parties. Parents of pupils and neighbours of the school struggled to make sense of the event. Hundreds came together in Graz's main square on Tuesday evening to remember the victims. Others left flowers and lit candles outside the school. Dozens also queued to donate blood for the survivors. Read More Gavin Newsom warns Trump's LA troop deployment is assault on democracy
The Journal
2 hours ago
- The Journal
Austrian police find makeshift bomb at home of school shooting suspect
AUSTRIA BEGAN THREE days of mourning today for the 10 people killed in a school shooting as investigators revealed they found a makeshift bomb at the home of the suspect. The 21-year-old former pupil at the Dreierschuetzengasse secondary school in the second city of Graz shot dead 10 people yesterday in an unprecedented rampage that stunned the Alpine country. Police said that he acted alone and took his own life in the toilet at the school. A 'non-functional homemade bomb' was also found during a search at the suspect's home, police said Wednesday. They also found a goodbye letter to the suspect's parents, but it included no clues about his motive. Locals hugged each other and cried as they left flowers, candles and letters to the victims outside the city centre school, which has around 400 students aged between 14 and 18. 'It is truly shocking… We will always think back on this,' Mariam Fayz, a 22-year-old student, said, adding that she feared for younger brother when she heard the news. Chancellor Christian Stocker – who described the shooting as 'a national tragedy' — announced three days of national mourning, while a minute's silence was observed across the country at 10.00 am (9am Irish time) this morning. Nine victims were immediately confirmed and a woman died later in hospital from her wounds, an official said. A 17-year-old French student was among the victims, his father told AFP. Twelve people suffered serious injuries. 'Shocked' Police said the alleged perpetrator was an Austrian from the Graz region who used two legally owned weapons. He was a former pupil at the secondary school, but never finished his studies there, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told reporters. Some Austrian media claimed that the suspect had been bullied, while television stations discussed the ease with which Austrians can acquire firearms and the number in circulation in the country. Advertisement Ennio, a student at the school, said 'there are stories from classmates who were often harassed, and in a situation like this, it's indescribably difficult. 'We ask that we be left in peace today so that we can mourn together and try to understand the situation.' One resident, originally from the United States, whose children attend a nearby primary school and nursery school, said she was 'shocked'. 'In my home country it happens more often as we know, but that it happens here is unheard of,' she said, declining to give her name. 'Graz is a safe city,' said Roman Klug, 55, who said he lived close to the school that he said was 'known for its openness and diversity'. Rare attack Condolences poured in from across European leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Gun violence is rare in Austria, which is home to almost 9.2 million people and ranks among the 10 safest countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index. Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities in recent years that were not connected to terrorism, although they are still less common than in the United States. In France, a teaching assistant was killed in a knife attack at a school in the eastern town of Nogent on Tuesday. In January, an 18-year-old man fatally stabbed a secondary school pupil and a teacher in northeastern Slovakia. And in December, a 19-year-old man stabbed to death a seven-year-old pupil and injured several others at a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia. In December 2023, an attack by a student at a university in central Prague left 14 people dead and 25 injured. A few months earlier, a 13-year-old gunned down nine fellow classmates and a security guard at a primary school in Belgrade. - © AFP 2025
Extra.ie
2 hours ago
- Extra.ie
School shooter left his mom a goodbye note telling of his plans to kill
The gunman who killed 10 people in a school shooting rampage in Austria had left his mother a goodbye note and video, police have revealed. In the video he told his mother of his plans to carry out the gun attack at his former school, but unfortunately, she didn't see it in time to warn the authorities. In the video, he says goodbye to his parents, but a police spokesperson said 'no motive can be inferred from the farewell letter, and that is a matter for further investigations.' Police officers near the scene of the school shooting in Graz, Austria. Pic: ERWIN SCHERIAU/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock Alarmed by his confusing message, his mother immediately notified police, Austrian news outlet Heute reports, but despite her efforts to stop a tragedy from happening, it was too late, as she opened the video message 24 minutes after receiving it, and by then, her son had already stormed into two classrooms. Chilling video captured the sound of shots followed by screams as the gunman fired a volley of shots from two legally held firearms. Six female and three male victims died at the scene. The tenth victim, a woman, succumbed to her injuries in hospital last night. The scene of the school shooting in Graz, Austria. Pic: Erwin Scheriau/APA-PictureDesk/REX/Shutterstock Pupils and teachers are said to be among the dead. The former pupil of the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school in the city of Graz, only ended his deadly rampage when he turned the gun on himself in a toilet cubicle The horrific incident has been described as Austria's worst ever mass school shooting and three days of mourning have been declared in the country.
