Austria School Shooting, Several Casualties Reported
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A shooting at a school in Austria has left several casualties, according to local media reports from the country.
Austrian police confirmed they and other emergency services are on the scene in Graz, including Cobra, a tactical unit.
The school is BORG Dreierschützengasse.
This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.
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Yahoo
21 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Former student kills 10 in Austrian high school shooting
Austria will observe a national day of mourning and a minute's silence on Wednesday after a former student shot dead 10 people at a high school in an unprecedented case of gun violence that stunned the Alpine country. The 21-year-old shooter acted alone and took his own life in the toilet at Dreierschuetzengasse high school in Graz, police said. Investigators found a good-bye letter addressed to the suspect's parents during a search of his residence, but it included no clues about his motive. After arriving in Graz, Chancellor Christian Stocker described the shooting as "a national tragedy". "This is a dark day," he told reporters Tuesday as he announced three days of national mourning. A minute's silence will be observed across the country at 10:00 am (0800 GMT) on Wednesday. Nine victims were immediately confirmed and a woman died later in hospital from her wounds, an official said. A 17-year-old French student was among the victims, his father told AFP. Twelve people suffered serious injuries and police said support was being provided to witnesses and those affected. According to police, the alleged perpetrator was an Austrian from the Graz region who used two legally owned weapons. He was a former student at the high school, but never finished his studies there, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told reporters. - 'Shocked' - Bouquets of flowers and candles were placed in front of the school, which has around 400 students aged between 14 and 18, and nearby businesses closed. One resident, originally from the United States, whose children attend a nearby elementary school and kindergarten, told AFP she was "shocked" and it was "a lot to take in". "In my home country it happens more often as we know, but that it happens here is unheard of," she said, declining to give her name. "Graz is a safe city," said Roman Klug, 55, who said he lived close to the school that he said was "known for its openness and diversity". - Rare attack - Condolences poured in from across Europe. French President Emmanuel Macron said that "France extends its deepest sympathy to the victims' families, the Austrian people and Chancellor Stocker during this difficult time". German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said "our thoughts are with our Austrian friends and neighbours" following the "horrific" shooting. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban offered his "deepest condolences". European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said "the news from Graz touches my heart", while 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, which is home to almost 9.2 million people and ranks among the 10 safest countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index. While still less common than in the United States, Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities in recent years that were not connected to terrorism. In France, a teaching assistant was killed in a knife attack at a school in the eastern town of Nogent on Tuesday. In January, an 18-year-old man fatally stabbed a high school student and a teacher at a school in northeastern Slovakia. And in December, 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, a 13-year-old gunned down nine fellow classmates and a security guard at an elementary school in Belgrade. jza-bg-kym/dhw/cms
Boston Globe
7 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Former student opens fire at an Austrian school, killing 10 and taking his own life
He called it 'a national tragedy that shocks us deeply' and said there would be three days of national mourning, with the Austrian flag lowered to half-staff at official buildings. A national minute of silence is to be held on Wednesday morning in memory of the victims. Advertisement Special forces were among those sent to the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, about a kilometer (over half a mile) from Graz's historic center, after calls at 10 a.m. reporting shots at the building. More than 300 police officers were sent to the school, which was evacuated. Footage from the scene showed students filing out quickly past armed officers. Police said security was restored in 17 minutes. A bouquet of flowers left after a shooting at a school in Graz, Austria. Matej Povse/Getty The assailant, who acted alone, was a 21-year-old Austrian man who lived near Graz, police said. His name wasn't released. Regional police chief Gerald Ortner said two firearms — a long gun and a handgun — were used in the shooting and recovered from the scene, and that the assailant was apparently legally in possession of them. The man took his own life in a bathroom. Advertisement Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the gunman had been a student at the school and hadn't completed his studies. He didn't specify when the man left the school or at what age. Karner said Tuesday afternoon that six of the dead were female and three male, but didn't give further information. He said 12 people were wounded. The state hospital in Graz later said that a 10th victim, an adult woman, had died of her injuries, the Austria Press Agency reported. Austria's Red Cross said it had deployed 65 ambulances to the scene and 158 emergency staffers were helping treat the injured. In addition, 40 specially trained psychologists were counseling students and parents. The Red Cross also called on locals to come forward and donate blood. Metin Özden was in his kebab restaurant near the school when he first heard police cars sped by, and then a police helicopter above. He told the Krone newspaper: 'I knew something bad had happened. … I've never seen so many emergency services in my entire life.' He also described to the paper seeing parents walking past his restaurant and crying on the way to the school. Tuesday's violence appeared to be the deadliest attack in Austria's post-World War II history. In 2020, four people were killed in Vienna and the suspect, a sympathizer of the Islamic State group, also died in a shooting. More than 20 other people, including a police officer, were wounded. In June 2015, a man killed three people and injured more than 30 when he drove through a crowd in downtown Graz with an SUV. Austria, which has a strong tradition of hunting, has some of the more liberal gun laws in the European Union. Advertisement Candles were lit for the victims of a shooting at the entrance of the school in Graz, Austria. Heinz-Peter Bader/Associated Press Some weapons, such as rifles and shotguns that must be reloaded manually after each shot, can be purchased in Austria from the age of 18 without a permit. Gun dealers only need to check if there's no weapons ban on the buyer and the weapon gets registered in the central weapons register. Other weapons, such as repeating shotguns or semi-automatic firearms, are more difficult to acquire — buyers need a gun ownership card and a firearms pass.
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
School shooting leaves Austria's second city in shock and grief
There is shock, sadness and disbelief in Graz, after the worst shooting in modern Austrian history left 11 people dead, including the gunman. "We never could have imagined that this could have happened here, in our place. It's a sad day for the whole city," said Reka, who lives close to the school. For many years, Austria had been spared the pain of mass school shootings. But that all changed at about 10:00 on Tuesday when a former student ran amok at a secondary school in the Dreierschützengasse, close to the main station in Austria's second largest city. Morning classes were under way when the attack took place. Some students at the school would have been taking their final exams. It took police 17 minutes to bring the situation under control. By the time it was over six female victims and three males had died. Hours later, a seventh female victim, an adult woman, died in hospital. Several others remain in hospital, some with critical injuries. The gunman, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen with two firearms, took his own life at the school. A former pupil who never passed his final exams, he is reported to have seen himself as a victim of bullying. Local resident Reka told me she couldn't understand how an attack like this could have happened in her well-ordered city. "This area is quiet, safe and beautiful," she said. "People are nice, the school is good." Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen said: "This horror cannot be put into words. What happened today in a school in Graz, hits our country right in the heart. These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way." He said there was "nothing at this moment that can alleviate the pain that the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of those murdered are feeling". Austria's Chancellor Christian Stocker, who rushed to the scene with the Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, called it "a national tragedy, that had shaken the entire country." He said there were no words to describe "the pain and grief that we all – the whole of Austria – is feeling". Three days of mourning have been declared in Austria. Flags on the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, where President van der Bellen has his office, will fly at half-mast. 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. But school shootings here are rare. There have been a few incidents over the years that have involved far fewer casualties: In 2018 a 19-year-old was shot by another youth in Mistelbach, north of Vienna In 2012 in St Pölten, a pupil was shot dead by his father In 1997, in Zöbern, a 15-year-old killed a teacher and seriously injured another And in 1993 a 13-year-old boy in Hausleiten seriously injured the head teacher and then killed himself. Austria's most violent gun attack in recent years took place in the heart of Vienna in November 2020. Four people were killed and 22 injured when a convicted jihadist ran through the centre of the city opening fire, before he was eventually shot by police. Machine guns and pump action guns are banned, while revolvers, pistols and semi-automatic weapons are allowed only with official authorisation. Rifles and shotguns are permitted with a firearms licence or a valid hunting licence, or for members of traditional shooting clubs. The Graz gunman is understood to have owned both firearms legally, and he had no criminal record. One of his guns was bought only the day before the attack, according to one report. Outside the school, a young man on a bicycle watched as the police allowed security vehicles through the security cordon round the school. "It's horrific," he told me. "This is my home. I can't understand how so many people my age are dead. This shouldn't happen here."
