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

RNZ News

2 days ago

Two policemen at the scene of a school shooting in Graz in southeastern Austria.
Photo:
AFP / ERWIN SCHERIAU
A shooter opened fire at a high school in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, killing 10 people, including 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. The country's interior ministry told CNN that the victims included children between 14 and 18 years old.
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 subject to forensic examinations. Officers are also continuing to conduct interviews as they investigate the circumstances of the incident, police added.
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 10am local time (4am 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."
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 will take place on Tuesday evening in Graz, including one coordinated by local youth organizations.
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.
-CNN