Gunman opens fire in Austrian school, killing 10 and throwing country into shock

Egypt Independent

2 days ago

A shooter opened fire at a high school in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, killing 10 people, mostly teenagers, in one of the worst rampages in the country's history.
Austrian police and hospital officials confirmed the fatalities, raising the death toll from an earlier figure of nine. Of the 10 victims, nine were students aged between 15 and 17. The tenth victim was a female teacher, Graz police spokesperson Sabri Yorgun told CNN.
Interior minister Gerhard Karner said at a news conference that six victims were female and three were male. Twelve students were injured in the incident, some of them seriously, Karner added. Graz University Hospital later said one of the seriously injured adults died on Tuesday evening.
The suspect – a 21-year-old Austrian male who had previously attended the school but not graduated – used two weapons, a shotgun and a pistol, to carry out the killing spree, before fatally shooting himself in a bathroom, authorities said at the news conference.
Officials would not give a motive for the gunman, who they say acted alone. Police believe he obtained the weapons he used legally. The weapons were seized at the scene and are subject to forensic examinations. Officers are also continuing to conduct interviews as they investigate the circumstances of the incident, police added.
In an update on Wednesday, police said that after searching the suspect's home, they found a suicide note as well as a non-functional pipe bomb.
'We were able to start the investigation immediately after the killing spree. In the meantime, we have also carried out a house search at the home address of the 21-year-old suspect from the district of Graz and the surrounding area and have been able to establish that there was a suicide note both in digital form via video message and in handwritten form,' police spokesperson Yorgun told CNN.
'We were also able to find and secure a pipe bomb – albeit a non-functioning pipe bomb – at his home.'
The shooting pitched Austria into a state of shock and disbelief. Chancellor Christian Stocker announced three days of national mourning, writing on X: 'There are no words for the pain and grief.'
Officers first responded to the reports of 'several' suspected gunshots at the Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Dreierschützengasse school in the northwest of Graz at around 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET).
Several vehicles and a police helicopter were deployed to the site. The school was evacuated and the area was secured, with no further danger expected, the police said on social media. Police said later in a statement that special forces were also deployed to the scene.
Stocker expressed horror at the shooting, saying: 'The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country. This inconceivable act suddenly tore young people from the life they still had ahead of them.'
One of the victims was a 17-year-old French high school student, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who said, 'Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family and friends.'
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said: 'It is difficult to bear when schools become places of death and violence.'
Several vigils for the victims took place Tuesday evening in Graz, including one coordinated by local youth organizations. Hundreds gathered in Graz's central square, but despite the large crowd of mourners, the Hauptplatz was nearly silent.
'I keep thinking about the image of the families, friends and relatives who will never find an answer or explanation – and that's just tragic,' Graz Mayor Elke Kahr told CNN on Tuesday night.
'There are 350 children at the school. And one cannot fathom they had to wait for so long… the parents who didn't know whether their child was still alive or not. That's just awful.'
'I am very upset that we now have situations in Austria that are so violent, so aggressive,' Eva Buchhalter-heuss, a Graz resident told Reuters after attending a memorial service at St. Vinzenz Church.
'It was terrible for me because I also have five children and one of my daughters also went to this school,' Doriz Prato, another Graz resident, told Reuters. 'I can't even imagine what these parents are going through now.'
On Wednesday morning, at 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. Eastern) a national minute of silence was observed, timed 24 hours after police received the first calls about shots being fired.
Gun violence is rare in Austria, along with most central European countries. The country's rate of firearm homicides was just 0.1 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, compared to 4.5 per 100,000 people in the United States.
But Austria's gun ownership is higher than most European Union countries; there are 30 civilian firearms owned for every 100 citizens, according to the Small Arms Survey, a research institute based in Switzerland.
A small number of high-profile violent incidents have taken place there in recent years. Last October, the mayor of a northern Austrian town was shot dead, along with another victim.
In February, a 23-year-old man stabbed five passersby in southern Austria in what police said was a random attack.
This story has been updated with additional developments. CNN's Fred Pleitgen, Lauren Kent and Saskya Vandoorne contributed to this report.