
Student opens fire in Austrian school leaving several dead, including suspect
'Currently, a police operation is underway... The reason for the deployment was that gunshots were heard in the building,' the police said on X, confirming the attack in Graz.
According to Austrian public broadcaster ORF, citing police, a student was behind the shooting, which led to the school's evacuation.
Several serious injuries included students and teachers, according to police spokesman Fritz Grundnig quoted by the media.
Police and interior ministry officials could not immediately be reached by AFP.
Attacks in public are rare in the Alpine nation of almost 9.2 million people.
In February, a stabbing left a teenager dead and five other people injured in southern Austria, with a 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker held. — AFP

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Malay Mail
7 days ago
- Malay Mail
Man takes a cigarette break, then hangs on for dear life as Austrian train speeds off
VIENNA, Aug 11 — A man has survived clinging to the outside of an Austrian high-speed train, Austria's state railway said Sunday, reportedly after it left whilst he was having a cigarette break. The man late Saturday grabbed onto the outside of the train at St Poelten, west of Vienna, railways spokesman Herbert Hofer told AFP, and was later taken onboard after the train performed an emergency stop. 'It is irresponsible, this kind of thing usually ends up with someone dying,' he said. 'And you're not just putting yourself in danger, if you end up under the train there's rescuers, there's police, fire service that come,' he added. The railjet train was on its way from Zurich in Switzerland to the Austrian capital and left Sankt Poelten on time but arrived in Vienna with a seven minute delay, Hofer said. Citing a passenger onboard, Austrian tabloid Heute said the man jumped into the space between two carriages after the train began to set off from a planned stop in Sankt Poelten. The man had taken advantage of being at a station to smoke a cigarette on the platform, Heute said. The man soon began to bang on windows to attract attention, Heute said, resulting in the train's conductor activating the emergency brake before train crew took the man aboard. 'The conductor really had a very big go at him,' the passenger told Heute. The man is a 24-year-old Algerian and was led away by police after the train arrived in Vienna's Meidling station, Heute reported. Hofer said he could not comment on the man's background ahead of further investigations. In January, a 40-year-old Hungarian man survived clinging to a German high-speed train for 20 miles, likewise after it set off before he had finished his cigarette. — AFP


Free Malaysia Today
30-06-2025
- Free Malaysia Today
Germany charges Syrian juvenile over plot to attack Taylor Swift concert
Multiple arrests were made over a plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert at the Ernst Happel Stadium last year. (EPA Images pic) BERLIN : Germany has charged a Syrian juvenile with supporting a foreign terrorist organisation for helping to plan a foiled attack on a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna last year, the prosecutor general said in a statement today. Identified as Mohammad A, the suspect helped the would-be attacker by translating Arabic bomb-building instructions and putting him in contact with a member of the Islamic State militia online, according to the charges against him. Police made multiple arrests over a suspected plot to attack a Taylor Swift concert in the Austrian capital's Ernst Happel Stadium, prompting the cancellation of all three of her shows there in August last year. 'Mohammad A has adhered to the ideology of the terrorist organization Islamic State (IS) since April 2024 at the latest,' the statement said. 'Between mid-July and August 2024, he was in contact with a young Austrian who was planning a bomb attack on a concert by singer Taylor Swift in Vienna.' Austria's coalition government earlier this month agreed on a plan to enable police to monitor suspects' secure messaging in order to thwart militant attacks, ending what security officials have said is a rare and dangerous blind spot for a European Union country.


The Star
14-06-2025
- The Star
Austria plans tougher gun laws after mass shooting at school
FILE PHOTO: People attend a memorial service at a main square in Graz, following a deadly shooting at a secondary school, Austria, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo (Reuters) -The Austrian government plans to tighten national gun laws after enduring its worst school shooting, Chancellor Christian Stocker said in an interview broadcast on Saturday. Speaking to ORF radio, Stocker said officials aimed to set stricter eligibility rules for possession and purchase of arms after a 21-year-old Austrian man on Tuesday shot dead ten people at a high school in the city of Graz before killing himself. The planned measures would look at things such as age requirements and how to treat certain weapons, Stocker said in an excerpt of an interview due to air later in the day. The cabinet plans to agree the measures on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the chancellor's office said. The proposals include enhancing psychological expertise in schools, increasing police presence there, improving data exchange between authorities and tightening restrictions for individuals deemed to be a risk, newspaper Kronen Zeitung said. The spokesperson confirmed the details. Police described the shooter as an introvert and avid player of online shooting games who had largely withdrawn from the outside world before he planned the attack. Authorities have yet to establish what moved him to carry out the shooting. (Reporting by Dave Graham, Editing by Louise Heavens)