5 Killed in Austrian School Shooting in Graz
An attack at a school in the Austrian city of Graz killed at least five people and injured others on June 10, according to Austrian media including tabloid Kronen Zeitung.
The police said that the attack took place in a street called Dreierschuetzengasse, on which there is a secondary school, Sky News reported.
Austrian state media ORF also noted that many people are suffering serious injuries, including students and teachers.
Moreover, authorities confirmed that the attack started nearly 10:00 a.m. after gunfire was reported inside a school building.
As a response, the police cordoned off the area and urged the public to stay away until the situation stabilizes.
The attacker is believed to have been a student at the school and is also said to have committed suicide.
Injured students are being cared for at the nearby Helmut List Hall, BBC reported.
Police spokesperson Fritz Grundnig told ORF that 'there may be fatalities.'
Currently, officers are inspecting the premises and have not yet disclosed any further details on the incident.
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Saudi Gazette
9 hours ago
- Saudi Gazette
Austrians hold minute of silence and vigil for 10 victims of school shooting
GRAZ — Austria has held a minute of silence for 10 people killed in a school shooting, after thousands gathered for a candlelight vigil for the victims on Tuesday evening. Police said the 21-year-old suspect, a former student, took his own life in a school bathroom shortly after the gun attack in Graz on Tuesday - the deadliest in the country's recent history. In a statement on Wednesday, police said they found a "farewell letter" and a non-functional pipe bomb during a search of the suspect's home. Authorities have not confirmed the gunman's motive. The incident, which left a further 12 people injured, took place at Dreierschützengasse secondary school in the north-west of the city. Six females and three males were killed in the attack, and a seventh female died later in hospital. Austria's APA news agency has reported that seven of those killed were pupils. Three days of mourning have been declared in Austria, and a nationwide minute's silence was held on Wednesday at 10:00 local time in memory of the victims. The Austrian flag has been lowered to half-mast on all public the minute's silence in Graz's main square, one woman, Tores, told BBC News that she knew one of the boys who had died. He was 17."I've known this family for a long time, including the son of the family, and knew that he attended that school. I rang immediately, to ask if everything is OK. Then they let me know at midday, that the boy was one of those slaughtered," she said."What happened yesterday is completely awful, the whole of Austria is in mourning," she said. "This is terrible for the whole of Austria."At the vigil on Tuesday night, Graz residents said they wanted to turn the city's main square into a sea of candles, and that is what they the whispering silence, thousands of mostly young people gathered over the course of the evening, alone or clutching the arms or shoulders of their friends. They lit candles, cried, or stood for a while in prayer or they slowly came forward to hand candles to volunteers who arranged them carefully on the steps of the Archduke Johann fountain is known as the heart of the old town of Graz, in front of the city hall. On Tuesday night it became a symbol of the grief, and solidarity, of the people of Austria."When you hear about it, you have so much sympathy for the people, maybe you could have known someone," Felix Platzer, a passerby at the vigil, told the Reuters news agency."This is an example of solidarity and you grieve together and together it is easier to cope," he added.A crowd is gathered in front of rows of lit candles in red and gold school where the attack took place will remain closed until further Chancellor Christian Stocker said Tuesday was a "dark day in [the] history of our country" and declared the shooting a "national tragedy"."A school is more than just a place to learn - it is a space for trust, for feeling comfortable and for having a future," he told the conference, adding this safe place had been "violated"."In these difficult hours, being human is our strongest point," he attack "strikes our country right at its heart", Stocker said in the immediate aftermath."These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them."The gunman, who has not yet been named, was a former Dreierschützengasse student who didn't graduate from the school, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told a news conference on Tuesday added it was now the job of the criminal office to also confirmed the gunman was not known to police before the information suggests the shooter legally owned the two guns used in the attack and had a firearms licence, police media outlets have reported the suspect used a pistol and a shotgun to carry out the was an Austrian man from the wider Graz region who acted alone, police said they began an operation at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST) after gunshots were heard from inside the school.A specialist Cobra tactical unit - which handles attacks and hostage situations - was deployed to the school, police evacuated all pupils and teachers from the building. Police confirmed the school had been secured and there was no further danger posed to members of the public."Locally, we have seen people crying on the streets, talking to friends that have been at the school when the shooting happened, who have maybe lost a friend," said Fanny Gasser, a journalist for the Austrian daily newspaper Kronen told BBC News "everybody knows somebody" at the school because Graz - despite being the second-largest city in Austria - is "not that big".She said the school was likely unprepared for the possibility of an attack. "We are not living in America, we are living in Austria, which seems like a very safe space."Local mayor Elke Kahr called the incident a "terrible tragedy".European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas said she was "deeply shocked" by the news. "Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence," she posted on a woman living with her husband Franz in the ground floor flat of the residential building next to the school, told the BBC she had just finished hanging out the washing when she heard said: "I heard shots. Lots of them, one after the other. 'Poof... poof... poof.... poof... poof...' again and again. I went into the flat to my husband and I told him: 'Someone is shooting!'"He thought it was maybe something else, but we heard I reckon 30 to 40 shots. Then my husband rang the police.""We saw one pupil at the window - it looked like he was getting ready to jump out... but then he went back inside," Franz said, adding they also saw a pair later saw the students had "got out of the school on the ground floor, from the other side" where they "gathered on the street", Franz Tuesday afternoon, long queues had formed outside a blood donation centre in Graz."Today is a hard day for all of us in Graz. I'm here to [donate] my blood to help other people who need it," 25-year-old Stephanie Koenig told Reuters news agency."Today I'm here because I wanted to do something. I felt helpless with the news," Johanna, 30, person standing in line told Reuters giving blood felt like the "only way possible to help".The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the country's recent 2020, jihadist gunman Kujtim Fejzulai shot four people dead and wounded 23 others on a rampage through Vienna's busy nightlife in 2016, a gunman opened fire at a concert in the town of Nenzing, killing two people before shooting himself dead. Eleven other people were injured in the attack. — BBC
Asharq Al-Awsat
17 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Former Pupil Kills Nine, Then Himself in Shooting at Austrian School
A former pupil killed nine people and then himself at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday in the worst school shooting in the country's modern history. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said six of the victims were male and three were female, and that 12 people were also injured. He gave no further details to identify the victims, but Austrian media said most were pupils. The motive for an attack that shocked the nation was not yet known. But police said they assumed the 21-year-old Austrian shooter, who was found dead in a bathroom, was operating alone when he entered the school with two guns and opened fire. "The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country," Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said, calling it a "dark day in the history of our country". "There are no words for the pain and grief that we all - all of Austria - are feeling right now." Stocker travelled to Graz where, at a press conference alongside other officials including Karner, he announced three days of national mourning, with a minute's silence to be held at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Wednesday. At the scene, police had set up a perimeter a few hundred meters away from the school, barring access routes with police cars after evacuating the school. Relatives of the victims and pupils were being cared for. The Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper said in an unconfirmed report that the suspect had been a victim of bullying. Armed with a pistol and shotgun, he opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his own, it said. 'DARK HOUR' Police were called to the scene at around 10 a.m. after shots were heard at the school. Police and ambulances were on the scene in minutes. "It is not yet possible to provide any information about the motive. Extensive criminal investigations are still required," a police spokesperson said. Julia Ebner, an extremism expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think-tank, said the incident appeared to be the worst school shooting in Austria's post-war history, describing such shootings as rare compared to some countries including the United States. "I am deeply shaken that young people were torn from their lives so abruptly," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, one of a number of foreign leaders who expressed shock at the shooting, said in a message to Stocker. "We hope that their loved ones can find comfort in the company of their families and friends in this dark hour." Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 persons, according to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. Four people were killed and 22 injured when a convicted extremist went on a shooting spree in the center of Vienna in 2020. In November 1997, a 36-year-old mechanic shot dead six people in the town of Mauterndorf before killing himself.
Leaders
a day ago
- Leaders
UPDATED: Ten Killed in Austrian School Shooting in Graz
Ten people died on Tuesday after a suspected shooter opened fire in a school in the southeastern Austrian city of Graz, the local mayor was quoted as saying. An attack at a school in the Austrian city of Graz killed at least ten people and injured others on June 10, according to Austrian media including tabloid Kronen Zeitung. The police said that the attack took place in a street called Dreierschuetzengasse, on which there is a secondary school, Sky News reported. Austrian state media ORF also noted that many people are suffering serious injuries, including students and teachers. Moreover, authorities confirmed that the attack started nearly 10:00 a.m. after gunfire was reported inside a school building. As a response, the police cordoned off the area and urged the public to stay away until the situation stabilizes. The attacker is believed to have been a student at the school and is also said to have committed suicide. Injured students are being cared for at the nearby Helmut List Hall, BBC reported. Police spokesperson Fritz Grundnig told ORF that 'there may be fatalities.' Currently, officers are inspecting the premises and have not yet disclosed any further details on the incident. Related Topics: Mexican Navy Ship Collides with Brooklyn Bridge, Killing 2 Crew Members UN Rights Office: 36 Israeli Raids in Gaza Killed 'Only Women and Children' Car Crashes into Crowd at Liverpool Parade, Injuring 45 People Short link : Post Views: 98 Related Stories
