10 dead in Austria's deadliest school attack
NewsFeed 10 dead in Austria's deadliest school attack
A former student opened fire at a high school in Graz, killing at least nine people in the deadliest shooting in Austria's modern history. The gunman, who acted alone, died by suicide, officials said. Victims include teens, a teacher, and school staff.
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Photos: Third night of anti-immigrant violence in Northern Ireland town
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Al Jazeera
a day ago
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Austrian police find bomb plans at shooting suspect's home as nation mourns
Austrian police investigating a school mass shooting in the city of Graz this week said they had found discarded plans for a bomb attack at the suspect's home, as the grief-stricken country embarked on three days of national mourning. Investigators said on Wednesday that they had discovered abandoned plans for a bombing, a non-functional pipe bomb and a farewell letter and video during a search of the home of the dead suspect, who shot dead 10 people during the previous day's rampage at the city's BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, before pulling the trigger on himself in a school toilet. Police said the 21-year-old, a former student of the school, had acted alone, his farewell note revealing no motive for the attack. Austrian media reported the suspected gunman had been bullied at school, but police have not confirmed that as of yet. The mass shooting killed nine students – six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17, one of whom had Polish citizenship – as well as a teacher, leaving 11 wounded. Austria came to a standstill at 10am (08:00 GMT) on Wednesday – the time of the previous day's carnage – to commemorate the dead. There will be one minute's silence on the first of three days of national mourning following what appeared to be the deadliest attack in the country's post-World War II history. In Vienna, St Stephen's Cathedral rang its bells, collective transport came to a halt and public broadcaster ORF paused all radio and TV programmes, broadcasting images of candles and a message to say the country was mourning the victims. In Graz, Austria's second-biggest city, close to where the assailant lived with his mother, hundreds of people lined the central square, laying candles and flowers in front of the city hall, adding to a growing memorial to the victims. The suspected gunman, who has not been formally identified, had not completed his studies at the school, according to the authorities. 'It's surreal, you can't describe or really understand it,' said Ennio Resnik, a pupil at the school, speaking to reporters outside a centre 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, told ORF on Tuesday that investigations into the motive were moving swiftly. 'We don't want to speculate at this point,' he said. Police have said that he used two weapons, a shotgun and a pistol, which he owned legally. By Wednesday morning, the authority that runs hospitals in Graz said that all patients were in a stable condition. Nine were still in intensive care units, with one needing a further operation on a facial wound and a second on a knee injury, while another two had been moved to regular wards. Police said none of their lives were in danger and that the wounded people, among them two Romanian nationals and an Iranian citizen, were aged between 15 and 26.
