‘Former pupil' kills nine people at Austrian school
Austria's leadership and European figures expressed condolences as the nation grapples with this rare act of violence in one of the world's safest countries.
School violence cases are infrequent in Europe but have been on the rise, with similar recent attacks in Slovakia, Croatia, and Serbia stirring concerns.
An attack on a school in southeastern Austria reportedly by a former pupil has left several people dead, police said Tuesday, in a rare case of deadly gun violence in a European school.
Heavily armed police, a helicopter and paramedics descended upon the school in Graz, where 10 people including the alleged lone shooter were killed and "several severely injured", regional police said on X.
"The identities of those affected are currently being established," police said, adding the situation as "secure" and support was being provided to witnesses and those affected.
Graz Mayor Elke Kahr told Austrian press agency APA that 10 people including several pupils and one adult were killed.
The alleged shooter acted alone, police said, and his motive is unknown.
Austrian media reported the suspect is believed to be a 22-year-old former pupil who also took his own life.
Police and interior ministry officials could not immediately be reached by AFP.
"The situation is very unclear at the moment," police sources told Austria's APA news agency.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker and Interior Minister Gerhard Karner are expected to hold a press conference at 13:00.
"It's a disaster, simply terrible. After all, it's about children," Hasan Darsel, a restaurant owner in the area, told the newspaper Kronen Zeitung.
'Deeply shocked'
Condolences poured in from across Europe.
EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas declared herself "deeply shocked" Tuesday by reports of the shooting.
"Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence," Kallas posted on X.
"My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Austrian people in this dark moment."
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "the news from Graz touches my heart."
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her sympathies to the families of the victims following the "tragic news".
Attacks in public are rare in Austria, an Alpine nation of almost 9.2 million people, which ranks among the 10 safest countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index.
School shootings are also much more uncommon in Europe than in the United States but in recent years Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities, that were not connected to terrorism.
In France on Tuesday, a teaching assistant was killed at a school in Nogent in the east following a knife attack.
In January 2025, an 18-year-old man fatally stabbed a high school student and a teacher at a school in northeastern Slovakia.
In December 2024, a 19-year-old man stabbed a seven-year-old student to death 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 that year, a 13-year-old gunned down eight fellow classmates and a security guard at an elementary school in downtown Belgrade. Six children and a teacher were also injured. The shooter contacted the police, who arrested him.
In 2009, nine pupils, three teachers and three passers-by were killed in a school shooting at Winnenden in southern Germany by a former pupil who then killed himself.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Young women in UK face more strangulation and violent threats, says charity
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain is seeing more violent threats to kill or harm young women and girls aged 16-25, with incidents of strangulation and suffocation also increasing, leading domestic abuse charity Refuge said on Wednesday. Refuge, one of the largest specialist domestic abuse organisations in Britain, said 525 young women and girls receiving long-term support from the charity reported experiencing physical violence between April 2024 and March 2025. Around half of them were subjected to strangulation or suffocation — a 9% rise from a year earlier. Nearly half of those reporting psychological abuse — about 615 individuals — said their perpetrator had threatened to harm them, marking a 4% increase. Additionally, 35% said they had been threatened with death. "Domestic abuse often goes unnoticed, yet these new figures reveal the harrowing reality: many young lives are being devastated by this horrific crime," said Refuge CEO Gemma Sherrington. "To actively tackle domestic abuse, there must be a major societal shift towards improved education that shines a light on the many red flags of abuse." Refuge said many young victims were experiencing coercive control, a pattern of behaviour designed to isolate, manipulate, and intimidate. Survivors quoted in Refuge's report described how abuse often began with subtle controlling behaviours and escalated over time. Such behaviours can often be overlooked by authorities as markers of domestic abuse. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Britain would reassess a tool widely used by the police and domestic abuse specialist services to gauge the level of risk faced by victims following criticism that, among other issues, it downplays patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour. Refuge has called for domestic abuse education to be more deeply embedded in schools and for the government's upcoming strategy on violence against women and girls to strengthen support for young people.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
What newly released videos and records reveal about the Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde-School-Shooting AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Anguished pleas from parents. Confused police officers. The horrifying scene that emergency crews found when they first got inside the classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Newly released records surrounding the May 2022 massacre, including hundreds of pages of files and hours of body camera video, show in greater detail the heartbreak and failures of one the worst school shootings in U.S. history. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed. The documents offer a deeper portrait of the teenage gunman and actions of hundreds of law enforcement officers who rushed to the rural South Texas campus. They're the final batch of records local authorities had withheld during a yearslong legal battle over public access. Family members of the victims were among those pushing for their release. Although state and federal investigations over the past three years have extensively examined the shooting, the batches of records provide new glimpses of the panic and indecision by law enforcement officials as they waited more than an hour to confront the shooter. Parents are heard begging police to stop the gunman The official narrative that police quickly rushed to confront and kill 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos had been quickly dismissed by parents who stood outside the school begging for officers to go inside or let them get to their children. Audio released Tuesday detailed their desperation. 'Whose class is he in?' one parent can be heard asking on a deputy's body camera. Another comes up and yells, 'Come on man, my daughter is in there!' Their pleas continued. 'Either you go in or I'm going in bro,' one parent says, adding seconds later, 'My kids are in there, bro. ... Please!' Some officers urged quick action. One deputy, who first responded to reports of Ramos shooting his grandmother moments before the school attack, rushed to campus after the first gunshots there. As he donned his ballistics vest, a voice says, 'Something needs to be done, ASAP.' After some children run from the school and officers report finding an AR-15 rifle, one officer can be heard saying, 'We need to get in there, fast.' It would be another hour before law enforcement breached the classroom and killed Ramos. Gunman's mother told deputies she was scared of son months before attack Law enforcement records showed sheriff's deputies were called to a physical disturbance at the home of Ramos' mother, Adriana Reyes, a few months before the attack. She told deputies that he became angry and kicked a wireless modem after she turned off the internet. She had to hold him down to calm him, according to an incident report. She told deputies Ramos never hit her, but they made a note in their report: 'Ms Reyes stated she was scared of Salvador and wanted help.' Ramos' grandmother took him to her house and deputies took no further action. Ramos would end up shooting his grandmother before attacking the school. She survived. School records, meanwhile, showed a pattern of spiraling trouble that emerged at a young age. Ramos was described as a 'motivated thinker and learner' in kindergarten, but by middle school he was getting suspended or disciplined for harassment and bullying. He also failed to meet minimum statewide testing standards. In October 2021 — seven months before the shooting — Ramos withdrew from high school because of 'poor academic performance, lack of attendance.' Records showed he failed nearly all his classes. Video shows officers unsure of shooter's location Some officers were initially unsure about just where Ramos was, how they might get to him and whether children might be trapped or hiding. Some tried finding a way in but also knew Ramos was heavily armed. Crouched behind the school building sizing up an assault on the classroom from the outside, an officer says, 'I just don't want to be crawling and he's just looking down on me.' Former school police chief Pete Arredondo, who has been described as the incident commander, can be heard shouting to Ramos, asking him put down his weapon. 'These are innocent children. We don't want anyone else hurt. Please talk to me," but there is no response. Once police realized there were children hiding in other classrooms, Arredondo is heard telling officers crouched around him they want to clear those rooms before breaching the classroom where Ramos is holed up. 'We don't know if there are kids in there,' Arredondo says. 'We're gonna save the lives of the other ones.' What comes next The law enforcement response included local, state and federal officers, but Arredondo and former school district police officer Adrian Gonzales are the only two to face criminal charges. Both face multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment and have pleaded not guilty. Arredondo has said he has been wrongly scapegoated as the one to blame for mistakes that day. The indictment against Arredondo contends that he didn't follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was 'hunting' victims. Trial is set for October. Gonzales on Monday requested that his trial be moved out of Uvalde County, arguing he cannot receive a fair trial in the community. ___ Associated Press reporters John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
What newly released videos and records reveal about the Uvalde school shooting
Uvalde-School-Shooting AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Anguished pleas from parents. Confused police officers. The horrifying scene that emergency crews found when they first got inside the classrooms at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Newly released records surrounding the May 2022 massacre, including hundreds of pages of files and hours of body camera video, show in greater detail the heartbreak and failures of one the worst school shootings in U.S. history. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed. The documents offer a deeper portrait of the teenage gunman and actions of hundreds of law enforcement officers who rushed to the rural South Texas campus. They're the final batch of records local authorities had withheld during a yearslong legal battle over public access. Family members of the victims were among those pushing for their release. Although state and federal investigations over the past three years have extensively examined the shooting, the batches of records provide new glimpses of the panic and indecision by law enforcement officials as they waited more than an hour to confront the shooter. Parents are heard begging police to stop the gunman The official narrative that police quickly rushed to confront and kill 18-year-old gunman Salvador Ramos had been quickly dismissed by parents who stood outside the school begging for officers to go inside or let them get to their children. Audio released Tuesday detailed their desperation. 'Whose class is he in?' one parent can be heard asking on a deputy's body camera. Another comes up and yells, 'Come on man, my daughter is in there!' Their pleas continued. 'Either you go in or I'm going in bro,' one parent says, adding seconds later, 'My kids are in there, bro. ... Please!' Some officers urged quick action. One deputy, who first responded to reports of Ramos shooting his grandmother moments before the school attack, rushed to campus after the first gunshots there. As he donned his ballistics vest, a voice says, 'Something needs to be done, ASAP.' After some children run from the school and officers report finding an AR-15 rifle, one officer can be heard saying, 'We need to get in there, fast.' It would be another hour before law enforcement breached the classroom and killed Ramos. Gunman's mother told deputies she was scared of son months before attack Law enforcement records showed sheriff's deputies were called to a physical disturbance at the home of Ramos' mother, Adriana Reyes, a few months before the attack. She told deputies that he became angry and kicked a wireless modem after she turned off the internet. She had to hold him down to calm him, according to an incident report. She told deputies Ramos never hit her, but they made a note in their report: 'Ms Reyes stated she was scared of Salvador and wanted help.' Ramos' grandmother took him to her house and deputies took no further action. Ramos would end up shooting his grandmother before attacking the school. She survived. School records, meanwhile, showed a pattern of spiraling trouble that emerged at a young age. Ramos was described as a 'motivated thinker and learner' in kindergarten, but by middle school he was getting suspended or disciplined for harassment and bullying. He also failed to meet minimum statewide testing standards. In October 2021 — seven months before the shooting — Ramos withdrew from high school because of 'poor academic performance, lack of attendance.' Records showed he failed nearly all his classes. Video shows officers unsure of shooter's location Some officers were initially unsure about just where Ramos was, how they might get to him and whether children might be trapped or hiding. Some tried finding a way in but also knew Ramos was heavily armed. Crouched behind the school building sizing up an assault on the classroom from the outside, an officer says, 'I just don't want to be crawling and he's just looking down on me.' Former school police chief Pete Arredondo, who has been described as the incident commander, can be heard shouting to Ramos, asking him put down his weapon. 'These are innocent children. We don't want anyone else hurt. Please talk to me," but there is no response. Once police realized there were children hiding in other classrooms, Arredondo is heard telling officers crouched around him they want to clear those rooms before breaching the classroom where Ramos is holed up. 'We don't know if there are kids in there,' Arredondo says. 'We're gonna save the lives of the other ones.' What comes next The law enforcement response included local, state and federal officers, but Arredondo and former school district police officer Adrian Gonzales are the only two to face criminal charges. Both face multiple counts of child endangerment and abandonment and have pleaded not guilty. Arredondo has said he has been wrongly scapegoated as the one to blame for mistakes that day. The indictment against Arredondo contends that he didn't follow his active shooter training and made critical decisions that slowed the police response while the gunman was 'hunting' victims. Trial is set for October. Gonzales on Monday requested that his trial be moved out of Uvalde County, arguing he cannot receive a fair trial in the community. ___ Associated Press reporters John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio; Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Missouri; Ben Finley in Norfolk, Virginia; Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia; and Ed White in Detroit contributed.
