Mass shootings in Europe in the past 40 years
A view shows the school where a deadly shooting took place, in Graz, Austria, June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic
MADRID - A gunman killed at least nine people at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, in the worst school shooting in the country's modern history.
Here is a timeline of some of the worst shooting incidents in Europe in the past four decades:
May 1987 - BELGIUM - Michael Van Wijnendaele kills seven people in Belgium, then shoots himself as police try to get him to surrender.
August 1987 - BRITAIN - Michael Ryan, a 27-year-old gun fanatic, rampages through the English town of Hungerford, killing 16 people and wounding 11 before shooting himself.
July 1989 - FRANCE - A French farmer shoots and kills 14 people including members of his family in the village of Luxiol, near the Swiss border. He is wounded and captured by police.
September 1995 - FRANCE - A 16-year-old youth runs amok with a rifle in the town of Cuers, killing 15 people and then himself after an argument with his parents.
March 1996 - BRITAIN - Thomas Hamilton bursts into a primary school in the Scottish town of Dunblane and shoots dead 16 children and their teacher before killing himself.
April 2002 - GERMANY - Robert Steinhauser, 19, opens fire in Erfurt after saying he was not going to take a maths test. He kills 12 teachers, a secretary, two pupils and a policeman at the Gutenberg Gymnasium, before killing himself.
September 2004 - RUSSIA - More than 300 hostages - half of them children - die at School No.1 in the city of Beslan in North Ossetia after it is seized by rebels demanding Chechen independence and an immediate end to the war there. Many of the dead were killed when the school was stormed.
November 2007 - FINLAND - Pekka-Eric Auvinen kills six fellow students, the school nurse, the principal and himself with a handgun at the Jokela High School near Helsinki.
September 2008 - FINLAND - Student Matti Saari opens fire in a vocational school in Kauhajoki in northwest Finland, killing nine other students and one male staff member before killing himself.
March 2009 - GERMANY - A 17-year-old gunman kills nine students and three teachers at a school near Stuttgart and another person at a nearby clinic. He is later killed in a shoot-out with police. Two passers-by are also killed, bringing the death toll to 16, including the gunman.
June 2010 - BRITAIN - Derrick Bird opens fire on people in towns across the rural county of Cumbria. Twelve people are killed and 11 injured. Bird also kills himself.
August 2010 - SLOVAKIA - A gunman shoots dead six members of a Roma family and another woman in the Slovak capital Bratislava before killing himself. Fourteen more people are wounded.
April 2011 - NETHERLANDS - Tristan van der Vlis opens fire in the Ridderhof mall in Alphen aan den Rijn, south of Amsterdam, killing six before turning the gun on himself.
July 2011 - NORWAY - Anders Behring Breivik kills 77 people when he plants a car bomb that kills eight people at an Oslo government building, then shoots dead 69 more, most of them teenagers, at an island summer camp of the ruling Labour Party's youth wing.
November 2015 - FRANCE - Islamist attackers in Paris armed with guns and bombs target the Bataclan music hall, six bars and restaurants, and the perimeter of the Stade de France sports stadium just outside the French capital, killing 130 people - including 90 concertgoers in the Bataclan - and injuring hundreds.
July 2016 - GERMANY - An 18-year-old German-Iranian man who is obsessed with mass killings kills at least nine people in Munich.
March 2023 - GERMANY - A gunman in Hamburg shoots dead six people before killing himself at a Jehovah's Witness worship hall. Eight other people were wounded, including a seven-months pregnant woman, who lost her unborn daughter.
May 2023 - SERBIA - A 13-year-old boy guns down eight fellow pupils and a security guard in a Belgrade school. Two days later, a gunman kills eight people and wounds 14 others in a village near the Serbian capital. Both suspects are arrested.
December 2023 - CZECH REPUBLIC - A Czech student shoots dead his father then kills 14 people at his Prague university. The gunman, killed at the scene possibly by one of his own bullets, is also suspected in the killings of another man and his two-month-old daughter who were found shot dead in woods in a village outside Prague, the week before.
March 2024 - RUSSIA - Armed men burst into the Crocus City Hall concert venue near Moscow on Friday, killing at least 139 people and wounding 182. Islamic State, the militant group that once sought control over swathes of Iraq and Syria, claims responsibility for the attack.
July 2024 - CROATIA - A gunman enters a nursing home in northwestern Croatia, shooting dead six people, including his mother, and injuring five others.
February 2025 - SWEDEN - A gunman kills 11 people, including himself, at an adult education centre in central Sweden in the country's deadliest mass shooting.
June 2025 - AUSTRIA - A lone gunman enters a secondary school in the southern city of Graz and opens fire, killing at least nine people. The attacker also dies, police said. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Harvey Weinstein convicted of sex crime amid contentious jury deliberations
Harvey Weinstein, once one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood, is facing a retrial after a state appeals court in 2024 overturned his 2020 conviction on sex crimes charges. PHOTO: REUTERS NEW YORK - A Manhattan jury found Harvey Weinstein guilty on a sex crimes charge on June 11, though the jury has not yet reached a verdict on all counts the former movie mogul faces in deliberations that have been marred by infighting and threats. Weinstein, once one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood, is facing a retrial after a state appeals court in 2024 overturned his 2020 conviction. He was accused by prosecutors in the case of raping an aspiring actress and assaulting two other women. Weinstein, 73, pleaded not guilty and has denied assaulting anyone or having non-consensual sex. The jury found Weinstein guilty on one of the three counts he faced, which stemmed from his alleged assault of former production assistant Miriam Haley in 2006. The jury found Weinstein not guilty of a charge stemming from his alleged assault of Kaja Sokola in 2002, when she was a 16-year-old aspiring actress. The jury has not yet reached a verdict on the third count, which charges him with raping aspiring actress Jessica Mann in 2013. They will resume deliberations on that count on June 12. Jurors reached their partial verdict on the fifth day of sometimes fractious deliberations. Before the jury announced their verdict on June 11, Justice Curtis Farber met privately with one person on the 12-member jury referred to as Juror One. The judge then stated in open court that there had been "fighting" in the jury room. 'Juror One has made it very clear that he is not going to change his position,' Justice Farber said, adding that Juror One did not tell him what his position was. 'He indicated that at least one other juror made comments to the juror that 'I'll meet you outside one day,' and there's yelling and screaming.' Weinstein's lawyer Arthur Aidala asked for a mistrial. As Justice Farber was preparing to dismiss jurors for the day to give them a chance to 'cool off', the jury sent a note indicating it had reached a verdict on some counts. The retrial began on April 23. Weinstein has had a litany of health problems and attended the retrial in a wheelchair. In closing arguments on June 3, the prosecution told the 12 jurors that the evidence showed how Weinstein used his power and influence to trap and abuse women. The defence countered that the accusers lied on the witness stand out of spite after their consensual sexual encounters with the Oscar-winning producer failed to result in Hollywood stardom. #MeToo milestone A jury had in February 2020 found Weinstein guilty of raping Ms Mann and sexually assaulting Ms Haley. Ms Sokola's allegation was not part of that case. The conviction was a milestone for the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct by powerful men. But the New York Court of Appeals, the state's highest court, threw out that conviction in April 2024. It said the trial judge erred by letting women testify that Weinstein had assaulted them, though their accusations were not the basis of the criminal charges. Though the 2020 conviction was thrown out, Weinstein has remained behind bars because of his 2022 rape conviction in California, which resulted in a 16-year prison sentence. He is appealing that verdict. More than 100 women, including famous actresses, have accused Weinstein of misconduct. The retrial was handled by prosecutors with the office of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. They portrayed Weinstein as a serial predator who promised career advancement in Hollywood to women, only to then coax them into private settings where he attacked them. The defence rejected that characterisation, saying Weinstein engaged in 'mutually beneficial' relationships with his accusers, who ended up with auditions and other show business opportunities. Weinstein co-founded the Miramax studio, whose hit movies included Shakespeare In Love and Pulp Fiction. His own eponymous film studio filed for bankruptcy in March 2018, five months after sexual misconduct accusations against him became widely publicised. Weinstein has experienced several health episodes while being held at New York City's Rikers Island jail, and in September was rushed to a hospital for emergency heart surgery. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
4 hours ago
- Straits Times
Neighbours of school shooter in Austria recall withdrawn young man
Neighbours of 21-year-old suspect Arthur A said he lived with his mother in a ground floor apartment in Kalsdorf bei Graz and did not integrate with the community. PHOTO: REUTERS KALSDORF BEI GRAZ, Austria - Neighbours and officials painted the picture of a withdrawn young man who attracted little attention before he achieved international notoriety by shooting dead 10 people at his former school and killing himself in the Austrian city of Graz. Authorities have so far given virtually no details about the 21-year-old Austrian media have referred to as Arthur A, other than that he was Austrian and failed to complete his studies at the Dreierschützengasse high school in Graz. In the commuter town of Kalsdorf bei Graz about 15km from Graz where he lived, residents on his estate of neat, grey three-floor apartment buildings with dashes of orange were stunned to learn the quiet neighbour they barely noticed was behind Austria's first mass school shooting. "He was totally inconspicuous. He didn't attract any negative attention, nor did he integrate into our community in any way," said Mr Manfred Komericky, mayor of the town near Graz airport and home to around 10,000 people. The family's letterbox had been taped over by the afternoon of June 11, any trace of their name no longer apparent. Of over a dozen residents spoken to by Reuters, few wanted to speak at all. Some said they had seen the man. None said they knew him. Neighbours said the suspect lived with his mother in a ground floor apartment at one end of the estate with leafy gardens over which a large concrete grain silo looms. Planes taking off from the airport can be seen in the distance. Several balconies and gardens on the estate boasted model storks signalling that families had welcomed babies recently. Mr Komericky said Kalsdorf had around 40 clubs and associations but that the young man had never really been noticed at them. Austrian newspapers Kronen Zeitung and Heute published pictures of a slight youth with a long fringe they described as the alleged perpetrator, one of which showed him holding a cat. According to Heute, investigators said he did not have a personal profile on social media. Police declined to comment. Students arriving to pay tribute to the victims of the school shooting in Graz, Austria, on June 11. PHOTO: EPA-EFE More on this Topic Former pupil kills 10 people and himself in shooting at school in Austria Details of his life after he left school were scarce. Heute said he struggled to find work. Police found a non-functional pipe bomb and a discarded plan for a bomb attack at his home. Mr Thomas Gasser, 38, a supermarket manager who lived in the building opposite the suspect for years, described him as small and generally decked out in a cap and headphones, covered up. Contact with the family was minimal, Mr Gasser said. "It's just that we hardly ever saw them," he explained. Officials said the suspect opened fire on pupils and staff at the school with a pistol and shotgun before shooting himself in a toilet in the building. Austrian media reported that he felt bullied, though police have not confirmed this. Police said that the suspect left behind a farewell note and a video message before he entered the school grounds. People paying their respects on June 11 in front of the school where the shooting took place, at a makeshift memorial near a sign saying 'Graz stands together'. PHOTO: AFP Citing investigators, Kronen Zeitung said the man asked forgiveness from his mother in the video while thanking her for looking after him. The massacre on June 10 was the bloodiest episode in the postwar history of Graz, and eclipsed a previous nadir: the 2015 killing of three people and injuring of many more by a man who drove his vehicle into a crowded Graz shopping street. The news that the school shooting suspect lived in Kalsdorf was an unwelcome reminder of those days - because the driver in the vehicle attack also lived in the same Graz suburb, residents said. Contemporaneous media reports confirm this. Helmut, a 65-year-old pensioner from Kalsdorf, said he was completely shocked by the coincidence. "I don't understand it," he said. "Why do they always come from here?" REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
5 hours ago
- Straits Times
Austrian neighbours of school shooter recall withdrawn young man
People gather to observe a minute of silence in honour of the victims of a deadly shooting at a secondary school, at the main square in Graz, Austria, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Emergency personnel put up a barricade at the site of a deadly shooting at a secondary school, in Graz, Austria, June 11, 2025. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic KALSDORF BEI GRAZ, Austria - Neighbours and officials painted the picture of a withdrawn young man who attracted little attention before he achieved international notoriety by shooting dead 10 people at his former school and killing himself in the Austrian city of Graz. Authorities have so far given virtually no details about the 21-year-old Austrian media have referred to as Arthur A., other than that he was Austrian and failed to complete his studies at the Dreierschützengasse high school in Graz. In the commuter town of Kalsdorf bei Graz about 15 km (9 miles) from Graz where he lived, residents on his estate of neat, grey three-floor apartment buildings with dashes of orange were stunned to learn the quiet neighbour they barely noticed was behind Austria's first mass school shooting. "He was totally inconspicuous. He didn't attract any negative attention, nor did he integrate into our community in any way," said Manfred Komericky, mayor of the town near Graz airport and home to around 10,000 people. The family's letterbox had been taped over by Wednesday afternoon, any trace of their name no longer apparent. Of over a dozen residents spoken to by Reuters, few wanted to speak at all. Some said they had seen the man. None said they knew him. Neighbours said the suspect lived with his mother in a ground floor apartment at one end of the estate with leafy gardens over which a large concrete grain silo looms. Planes taking off from the airport can be seen in the distance. Several balconies and gardens on the estate boasted model storks signalling that families had welcomed babies recently. Komericky said Kalsdorf had around 40 clubs and associations but that the young man had never really been noticed at them. Austrian newspapers Kronen Zeitung and Heute published pictures of a slight youth with a long fringe they described as the alleged perpetrator, one of which showed him holding a cat. According to Heute, investigators said he did not have a personal profile on social media. Police declined to comment. Details of his life after he left school were scarce. Heute said he struggled to find work. Police found a non-functional pipe bomb and a discarded plan for a bomb attack at his home. Thomas Gasser, 38, a supermarket manager who lived in the building opposite the suspect for years, described him as small and generally decked out in a cap and headphones, covered up. Contact with the family was minimal, Gasser said. "It's just that we hardly ever saw them," he explained. Officials said the suspect opened fire on pupils and staff at the school with a pistol and shotgun before shooting himself in a toilet in the building. Austrian media reported that he felt bullied, though police have not confirmed this. Police said that the suspect left behind a farewell note and a video message before he entered the school grounds. Citing investigators, Kronen Zeitung said the man asked forgiveness from his mother in the video while thanking her for looking after him. The massacre on Tuesday was the bloodiest episode in the postwar history of Graz, and eclipsed a previous nadir: the 2015 killing of three people and injuring of many more by a man who drove his vehicle into a crowded Graz shopping street. The news that the school shooting suspect lived in Kalsdorf was an unwelcome reminder of those days - because the driver in the vehicle attack also lived in the same Graz suburb, residents said. Contemporaneous media reports confirm this. Helmut, a 65-year-old pensioner from Kalsdorf, said he was completely shocked by the coincidence. "I don't understand it," he said. "Why do they always come from here?" REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
