Austria falls silent as questions remain about motive for deadly school shooting
Austria fell silent for a minute on Wednesday in memory of the 10 people killed in a school shooting in Graz, which ended with the gunman taking his own life.
The man's motive remained unclear.
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Austria has declared three days of national mourning following what appears to be the deadliest attack in its post-Second World War history.
At 10am on Wednesday, marking the moment a day earlier when police were alerted to shots at the Borg Dreierschutzengasse high school, the country stopped for a minute of silence.
Hundreds of people lined the central square in Graz, Austria's second-biggest city.
A police officer in front of a school building after a shooting in Graz (Heinz-Peter Bader/AP)
Some laid more candles and flowers in front of the city hall, adding to a growing memorial to the victims.
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The first candles were laid on Tuesday evening as a crowd gathered on the square, some people hugging each other as they tried to come to terms with the tragedy.
Hundreds of people joined Austrian officials at a service on Tuesday evening in the Graz cathedral.
Among those on the square Wednesday was Chiara Komlenic, a 28-year-old art history student who finished her exams at the school there.
'I always felt very protected there. The teachers were also very supportive,' she said.
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'I made lifelong friendships there. It just hurts to see that young girls and boys will never come back, that they experienced the worst day of their lives where I had the best time of my life. I still know a few teachers, it just hurts a lot.'
In the capital, Vienna, the local transport authority had trams, subway trains and buses stop for a minute.
Police said they found a farewell letter and a non-functional pipe bomb when they searched the home of the assailant.
The 21-year-old Austrian man lived near Graz and was a former student at the school who had not completed his studies.
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Police have said that he used two weapons, a shotgun and a handgun, which he appeared to have owned legally.
Police did not elaborate on investigators' findings in a brief post on social network X. But a senior official who acknowledged that the letter had been found on Tuesday night said it had not allowed them to draw conclusions.
'A farewell letter in analogue and digital form was found,' Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria's Interior Ministry, told ORF public television.
'He says goodbye to his parents. But no motive can be inferred from the farewell letter, and that is a matter for further investigations.'
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Asked whether the assailant had attacked victims randomly or targeted them specifically, Mr Ruf said that is also under investigation and he didn't want to speculate.
He said that wounded people were found on various levels of the school and, in one case, in front of the building.
By Wednesday morning, the authority that runs hospitals in Graz said that all patients were in 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.
'Graz is the second-largest city in Austria, but we still say that Graz is a village,' said Fabian Enzi, a university student among those on the main square of the city of about 300,000 people on Wednesday.
'Every time you are out you meet people you know. There is a high chance that with such an attack you know people which are affected,' the 22-year-old said.
'There are a lot of desperate faces.'
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The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
I was taken to UK's ‘paedo island' and subjected to horrific abuse from age 6… why I know I'll never get justice
A BRAVE victim of the UK's 'paedo island' has refused to help investigators in their efforts to improve safeguarding, fearing it is an impossible task. Caldey Island, off the coast of Tenby, Wales, has a dark past - with children being systematically sexually abused by a number of monks there for more than 50 years. 8 8 8 8 Multiple men with convictions for sexual offences have been known to have resided on the island at various times for decades. In December, a report was published following a 'thorough review' and has recommended several safeguarding measures. But one victim, who was abused for several years on the island during visits with her family, from age six, told The Sun this week: 'It's just posturing, I'm not going to take any notice. 'They say they've got this review and we're going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that.' The victim - who previously described to us the horrors she suffered - went on to explain why she believed the systems overseeing the island would make it impossible to prevent future abuse. Mum told me not to report sick cult's abuse so I was silent for decades By Ryan Merrifield Evil monk Father Thaddeus Kotik, stationed at Caldey Island's monastery from 1947 until his death in 1992, never faced any criminal charges despite countless claims against him. However, six victims were paid compensation after a 2016 civil case found the Cistercian priest had sexually abused them between 1972 and 1987. One victim - who received a £19,000 payout - told The Sun she was advised against taking action by her mum and some former islanders who didn't want her to 'blacken the good name of Caldey'. She made the trip to the island over school holidays and was preyed on almost every day by Kotik - also claiming she saw him abuse others, including babies. The victim told us how the priest would wear Y-fronts back to front to seem harmless and naive, and 'to pretend he didn't know how it all worked'. 'We just thought, 'This is an adult who is interested in us.'' She continued: 'What I noticed about Father Thaddeus, he always abused [the children of] vulnerable families.' She described coach loads of kids from care often visiting the island for days at a time, who he would prey on as they visited the Abbey grounds, often after luring them into the garden. 'The other monks said he was a bit of a joker, a bit of a child," she explained. "They didn't take him that seriously, but they knew there was something dodgy about him.' Referring to the other monks and staff, she said: 'The whole island was like a cult, it was a feudal hierarchy. You had them at the top and then everybody else underneath.' She claims in 1990 she told her mum - who died several years ago - about the abuse but was warned not to report it or Kotik would be segregated from the other monks on the island. 'Father Thaddeus would abuse us three or four times a day,' she recalled. 'His hands were very rough, and he always stank of BO. We would get infections because his hands were so dirty.' She described how Kotik was 'so compulsive' and would invite kids to a makeshift office he had near the dairy. His myna bird would chatter and he'd offer them biscuits before abusing them. She said the Lincoln biscuits had 'lumps all over them'. 'I remember thinking they were the tears in my eyes and how sad they were. Thinking of somebody's eyes." The victim finally stopped going to the island regularly at the age of 16. By then, she had gone through puberty, so Kotik had lost interest in her. But the trauma has remained, and she was later raped by someone linked to the Catholic church when she was 15. 'I felt I didn't have any rights over my body, I didn't feel I could say, 'No, I don't want to do this',' she said. 'What I tend to do now is just avoid people because I was never brought up to have the self confidence to say no. 'What I've realised is I'd rather be busy and lonely than in a relationship. 'When a relationship gets remotely sexual I'm right there and it's too loaded and too many conflicting feelings." The probe was overseen by Former Assistant Police & Crime Commissioner for South Wales, Jan Pickles OBE. It came after Maria Battle, former chair of the Howell Dda University Health Board in Wales, had been appointed to oversee the island earlier in 2024. She is a director of the Caldey island Estate Company Ltd which has led anti-abuse campaigners to question her independence. The report - which focused largely on accusations against the late Father Thaddeus Kotik - concluded victims of sexual abuse on the island were treated in a hostile, heartless and cruel way. In response, Caldey Abbey, which commissioned the report, apologised for the suffering caused. Father Thaddeus Kotik and Caldey Island Victim testimonies from the 1970s collected by Ms Pickles suggest Kotik - who lived on Caldey from 1947 until his death in 1992 - was a 'serial and prolific abuser of children', often in 'plain sight' of others on the island. The report states there were multiple other occasions where accusations of child sexual abuse were not appropriately logged or reported to the authorities. Six of Kotik's victims were paid compensation after a 2016 civil case found the Cistercian priest had sexually abused them between 1972 and 1987. The victim we spoke received a £19,000 payout. She told us Ms Pickles' has been 'very good' but added: 'They're not going to put the right things in place.' They say they've got this review and we're going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that. Caldey Island victim She described the island itself as still 'a very feudal society' and said her and other victims have been invited to join the board which oversees the island, to help implement new safeguarding measures. But she declined, telling us: 'I just don't really trust anyone who wants to sit on that board because it is like Sherry Arnstein's Ladder of Participation.' This refers to a framework developed in the 1960s which shows who had power when important decisions are made. 'It looks at how undemocratic inviting people to give their views is,' said the victim. HOW TO REPORT HISTORICAL SEX ABUSE This guide was produced by Operation Hydrant - a coordination hub established in June 2014 to deliver the national policing response, oversight, and coordination of non-recent child sexual abuse investigations. It specifically looks at cases concerning persons of public prominence, or in relation to those offences which took place within institutional settings. You can report to the police at any time. It can be done in a number of ways – going to a police station, dialling 101, reporting online via a police website, or even through a third party, such as a friend or relative. When you first make contact with the police, they will take an initial report, a 'first account'. The force will then make contact with you to take more detailed information. An impartial investigation will then be launched based on what you have told officers. 'It's just posturing, I'm not going to take any notice. 'They say they've got this review and we're going to make it safe. Absolute b******s to that.' She added the measures are just 'playing lip service' to 'show that they're doing due diligence… it doesn't help anything'. As part of the review, the monks are not allowed to give religious or pastoral advice to visitors, even if asked, or pose for a selfie with them. And under a 'no touch' policy will be obliged to report any accidental physical contact. The victim described the selfie ban is 'pathetic', adding: 'It's not the selfies, it's the grooming of the families who come and stay.' She said it is 'systemic' to the way the Catholic church often attempts to 'deal with things internally… they don't want to hand over the criminals to the law'. She recalled during the 1980s an article in a Catholic publication blaming paedophilia on divorcees. 'It said if people didn't get divorced you wouldn't have this problem,' she said. The review revealed that a number of sex offenders had spent time on Caldey, including Paul Ashton, who lived there for years under an alias while on the run from police. 8 8 8 He had unrestricted access to the IT system and used it to download indecent images of children. A visitor who discovered his true identity informed police and he was later jailed. When he was discovered at Caldey Island in 2011, more indecent images were found on his computer in the monastery. The visitor believed he had been operating a distribution network for indecent images of children, masquerading as a cleaning company. Two other men, Father John Shannon and John Cronin, convicted of sexual offences involving children, have also been linked to Caldey Island. Harrowing 'grooming' letter In a letter from an island resident seen by The Sun, it was alleged that a 'grooming' culture still persists and that offenders are 'protected'. The unnamed victim went on to tell us: 'If you're going to encourage people to take the vows of chastity, obedience and poverty, it's going to attract somebody, a certain sort of person, and quite likely that sort of person might be a little bit inadequate emotionally, or has something wrong.' She continued: 'I just think you've got the same situation now as you had back then. 'There's plenty of opportunity for a paedophile to groom families. 'There'll be someone on that island now who is a paedophile and it's just attracting that sort of person.' She said: 'The problem is, people turn up there who are dodgy. They are looking to run away - like any kind of grass roots community, you're going to get some people who are on the run from something. 'There's quite a lot of dodgy people there.' The problem is, people turn up there who are dodgy. They are looking to run away - like any kind of grass roots community, you're going to get some people who are on the run from something. Caldey Island victim Father Jan Rossey, who took on the role of abbot in 2023, said he'd read the review with "deep sorrow and regret" and that it was "particularly heartbreaking to hear children spoke up to adults and no action was taken. "Children and their families were failed when they should have been supported and listened to,' he said. He went on to 'sincerely apologise' to the victims of Kotik and 'past failures'. He added: "Since becoming Abbot, I have ensured that many safeguarding improvements have been put in place. These are detailed in the review.' Father Rossey said he had also reached out to anyone who came forward for the review 'offering to meet with them in person to apologise'. The victim we spoke to, who was not involved in the review, said she had not received such an offer. But said: 'I would meet him in person and I would tell him where I think the Catholic church has gone wrong - and how hollow some of these apologies are, and defensive, and not really genuine.' She added: 'I know there are people who are happy to speak about what happened but I try to have as little to do with it all as possible. 'I don't like to talk about it, I like to forget it. It's very haunting - this thing is still living with me.' 'Committed to ensuring highest standards' The Sun understands Safeguarding Officers and Trainers from the Religious Life Safeguarding Service (RLSS) have visited Caldey Island on multiple occasions since the investigation began, with the most recent visit taking place at the end of May. Melissa Andrews, CEO of the RLSS, said: "We are working closely with Caldey Island to ensure best practice in safeguarding. "Our team recently visited the island to deliver a series of training courses on-site, and we will continue to collaborate with their safeguarding lead to support and encourage their ongoing engagement." A spokesperson for Caldey island Estate Company Ltd said: "We are committed to ensuring the highest standards of safeguarding on Caldey Island. "Following the Independent Review led by Jan Pickles OBE—conducted entirely independently of Caldey Abbey—we have taken significant steps to implement all of the recommendations made. "Safeguarding matters are now overseen by an independent committee, which includes representation from victims and survivors. In line with the Review's guidance, our Safeguarding Lead is a qualified and experienced social worker who operates independently of the Island. We remain deeply committed to creating a safe, respectful, and transparent environment for everyone connected to Caldey Island, and we are grateful for the continued support and engagement of our wider community. Caldey Island spokesperson "We've made meaningful progress, much of which is detailed in the 2024 Annual Safeguarding Report, available on the Caldey Island website. "Looking ahead, the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency will be conducting an independent audit of our safeguarding practices in June 2025. "We welcome this review, and its findings will be made publicly available. "We remain deeply committed to creating a safe, respectful, and transparent environment for everyone connected to Caldey Island, and we are grateful for the continued support and engagement of our wider community." The Sun has also contacted Father Rossey for further comment. 8
The Sun
4 hours ago
- The Sun
I saw arrogant Mick Philpott carry out sick plot to emerge as the ‘hero' before torching home & burning kids alive
WHEN Mick Philpott burned his six children to death in a family home, horrified parents struggled to comprehend what kind of monster could commit such a sickening crime. Now, a Sun investigation has uncovered new evidence of his botched game plan to play the 'hero' by rescuing his kids from the flames, and how he desperately tried to deflect the blame as his doomed plot unravelled. 12 12 Speaking for the first time in our brand new series, Scene of the Crime, the killer's traumatised neighbours shine fresh light on what really happened before and after that tragic night 13 years ago. On the day before he set the Derby property alight on May 11, 2012, one recalls spotting him carefully setting up two ladders beneath the upstairs windows in a brazen bid to later pull the kids to safety. Haunted by the memory of the children's blackened bodies, she emotionally tells how they "paid the price of their father's " arrogance and stupidity". Meanwhile, another resident on Victory Road reveals how she and her partner were called 'child murderers' in the street after cops held her and her partner for 72 hours - as shameless Philpott scrambled to pin the blame on THEM for his crimes. The furious locals paint a grotesque picture of the convicted mass killer, who we recently revealed was left "battered and bruised" in a brutal jail beating. In extraordinary detail, they tell how he acted with impunity, seeing himself saw himself as 'God's gift', and paraded up and down the street often dressed in little more than a pair of turquoise speedos. Dinner lady Pearl Turner was in her garden when she spotted her next-door neighbour, Philpott, setting up the ladders at the back of his home. Pearl, who lived next door to the family for several years, claimed that he'd planned to climb them once he'd set the house ablaze, and help pull his kids to safety. The dad - who had previously appeared on the Jeremy Kyle Show - had concocted the arson scheme to pin on former mistress Lisa Willis who he was due to face in court over access to his four kids with her. But in a tragic turn of events, he had forgotten to unlock their bedroom windows, leaving them trapped inside the burning building. Evil dad Mick Philpott who killed six children in a horror blaze left 'battered and bruised' in brutal jail beating The fire claimed the lives of Duwayne, 13, Jade, 10, John, nine, Jack, seven, Jesse, six, and Jayden, five. Only Duwayne, the eldest, managed to escape the house alive, before he too died from his injuries in hospital days later. Both Philpott and his wife Mairead, who supported his plan, were eventually arrested on May 29 2012, initially for murder, although charges were later changed to manslaughter. Haunting memories Thirteen years on, Pearl is still traumatised by the memory of seeing the five children's charred bodies laid out in a row in the street outside her home as firefighters tried in vain to save them. Now 78 and retired, she was still living next door to where the tragedy unfolded when The Sun revisited the scene of the killings. Breaking her silence on the horrific fire, she says: 'I'll never get the sight of them lying there out of my head." She shared heartbreaking details about the night of the fire but also offered insight into the extraordinary lengths Philpott had gone to in order to ensure he emerged as a hero. She added: 'I was in my garden the day before the fire and Philpott came home with two sets of ladders. 'He initially placed them against my wall at the back, then moved them off and positioned them very carefully underneath the two upstairs windows at the rear of his house. They were the children's bedrooms. 12 12 12 'As soon as I saw those two ladders leaning up against our wall, I knew the crafty sod was up to something, but never in a million years would I have worked out the evil plan he had in mind. 'I knew he hadn't brought the ladders home to do any DIY or a spot of house maintenance because he was useless and lazy. I'd never seen any ladders at his property before. 'As soon as I became aware their house was on fire, it became clear to me what his purpose with the ladders had been. He'd planned to use them to climb up to their windows and rescue them so he could play the hero. 'But he forgot the bedroom windows had locks on them and in the panic and chaos of the fire, with smoke everywhere, those poor children weren't able to open the windows and died. "They paid the price of their father's arrogance and stupidity. It was all such a needless, tragic waste. 'They were lovely, polite kids. They always waved at me when they saw me. If I was in the garden, they'd wave from their bedroom windows. 'On the day of the fire, I told the police about my suspicions over the ladders, but it took them weeks to arrest him. I've never really understood why. It was obvious to me what he'd done.' 'We were called child murderers' One of those arrested, a 41-year-old woman named Vicky, also told The Sun - in another first interview - how Philpott tried to frame her and her partner for the fire that left six children dead. Vicky, then aged 28, revealed how officers arrested her and her late partner Adam, then 38, who died last year, and took them to Ripley police station and held them for questioning for 72 hours. Through tears, Vicky said: 'We had been friends with Mick, Mairead and Lisa (Philpott's former live-in mistress) for some time and Mick used that friendship to try and save his own skin. 'When the police spoke to him on the day of the fire he told them me and Adam had started it. "As soon as they told me Mick had accused us of starting the fire, I knew it had to have been Mick himself who had done it. Why else would he have tried to put it on us? 'Even so, it took us three days to convince the cops we were innocent before they let us go, but when we got back people still believed we'd done it. 'We were getting called child murderers in the street and on social media. It was absolute hell for us. It went on for months and months. I am still traumatised by it. "Poor Adam is dead now but it was the same for him until the day he died. You just never get over it. 'The abuse only stopped when Philpott and the other two went to court and the details came out, but for me and Adam, the damage was already done. 'And those poor, poor children. Nothing could bring them back. 'Philpott was an obnoxious, self-centred b*****d who thought he was God's gift to everything. He killed his own children then tried to frame me and Adam - his friends - for it. That tells you what kind of man he is. 'I hope he is never released from jail. He is a monster and should die in there.' 12 12 Vicky said she remains close friends with Lisa, and is 'in touch' with her. 'Lisa has long since moved away from Derby and I would never tell anyone where she is now,' she said. Vicky also revealed that Mairead, who was released early from jail in 2023, has since changed her name and is living with a new partner. 'She is a monster too and should never have been let out early. Why should she be allowed to start a new life as if nothing happened?' 'Hope he never gets out' Speaking to those living in Victory Road now, it is notable how many locals' lives were interwoven with the Philpotts. Neighbour Martin's son was in a relationship with Philpott's daughter from his first marriage at the time of the tragedy. He said his son, then 18, had been one of the first to try and enter the burning building and rescue the children. Martin said: 'Before the fire crews arrived, my boy was there trying to get the kids out. "He saw the ladders at the back of the house and climbed up to try and get in through the window but the heat was so intense it was burning the hairs off his arms. His skin felt like it was on fire. 'He tried and tried to smash the windows but he just couldn't. It was awful. 'He knew the Philpotts because he'd been going out with one of Mick's daughters for about a year at the time. We all got to know Mick and his family quite well and we'd sometimes go round for dinner. 'I never really liked him because he was such a loudmouth, but I had to make the effort for the sake of my son and his girlfriend. 'To be honest, I thought Mick was a bit of a prat. He'd been on TV and thought of himself as a star. He really believed he was a film star. 'But I never thought for a moment he'd be capable of what he did. 'What happened put such a strain on my son's relationship with Mick's daughter that they broke up a year or so later. "My son was traumatised by the events of that night and he has struggled with his emotions to this day, although very recently he has started to open up a little. 'All of us around here just want to forget about Mick and that horrific day, but it is impossible. I hope he never gets out of prison.' Elsewhere in Victory Road, a 38-year-old mother told how her son was at school with several of the Philpotts' children. She recoils at the mention of Mick Philpott's name and tells how he 'made my skin crawl'. She said: 'I hated him on sight. He was a horrible, horrible man. 'He was friends with my ex-partner and he'd call round here to see him wearing nothing but a pair of tight, turquoise Speedos and a pair of trainers. 'He'd stand at our porch with one leg raised on the windowsill like he was God's gift, but all I saw was a fame-hungry w****r. He was utterly repulsive. 'I had nieces in their teens at the time and when they were here he'd be leering at them. It was disgusting. 'When they left to go back home, I'd go with them in case he tried to follow them. I just didn't trust him at all. 'I felt sorry for Mairead because she was completely under his thumb and did whatever he told her to. He treated her miserably. "Once I told her to stop being such a wet blanket and stand up to him, but she never did. If he told her to jump, she'd say 'How high?'. It was that kind of relationship. 'When she and Lisa were both pregnant, I remember the three of them walking back from town with loads and loads of bags full of shopping, but he made them carry it all. "He was walking ahead of them, empty-handed, in his stupid Speedos and nothing else. 'It was a weird set-up with the three of them. Between Mairead and Lisa, one of them was always pregnant. 'But even though I knew what an awful man he was, I was surprised he could kill his own children. I hope to God he is never allowed out of jail for what he did.' Battered and bruised Last month, The Sun revealed how Philpott was left with bruises and lumps on his head after an inmate battered him with a metal container at tough HMP Wakefield, West Yorks. A source said: 'Philpott was in a bad way after the attack – battered and bruised and with two large and noticeable lumps on the back of his head. 'The other lad pounced on him and whacked him quite a few times from behind. 'It was one bloke on his own – someone quite a bit younger than Philpott and it happened really quickly on the landing. 'There was a huge commotion, an alarm was going off and guards rushed in to help. 'Otherwise it could have been a lot worse for Philpott. 'Philpott was feeling very sorry for himself after the attack – but no-one had much sympathy. 'That is reserved for the children he killed."
BBC News
5 hours ago
- BBC News
Grenfell survivors and bereaved gather for memorial service
Grenfell Tower survivors, and the families of those who lost their lives, have attended a memorial service on the eighth anniversary of the 2017 tragedy. A total of 72 people, including 18 children, died in the fire, which is still being investigated by the Metropolitan Police. In a few months' time, work will begin to take down the 23-storey 200 people gathered at All Saints Church in Notting Hill, west London, for the Humanity For Grenfell annual service. Ahead of the service, flowers were laid at the foot of the tower by officials including minister for building safety, Alex Norris MP, Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan and London Fire Brigade (LFB) Commissioner Andy LFB firefighter Stephen Aslin, 58, also began a 30,000-mile cycling challenge and was cheered on by well-wishers and family. Before setting off, he led a 72-second silence to remember the victims of the fire. His solo bike ride around the world will help raise money for projects helping young people affected by the tragedy. During the service, a candle was lit in honour of each victim and prayers were led by Rev Paul Wood."We pray for all of those who seek to serve the community, for all those who seek justice," he said."We pray for all those across the world who are in pain, for those who are suffering in the Holy Land, in Ukraine and all places of war and those caught in the Air India disaster this week."Among the congregation, there remained a feeling of anger that justice had not yet been Met has previously said no charges would be announced until the end of 2026. Mr Roe said Grenfell should never be a statement, the commissioner said: "As we mark the eighth anniversary of the devastating Grenfell Tower fire, our thoughts remain with the families and loved ones of the 72 people who lost their lives, as well as the survivors, their families and the wider community."Over the years, the strength and dignity shown by the Grenfell community has been, and continues to be, humbling and inspiring." Sir Sadiq said: "Today we pause to remember the 72 people who lost their lives, and all those whose lives were changed forever by the horrific Grenfell Tower fire."Eight years on and the road to justice and change has been far too long."The publication of the final Grenfell Inquiry report last year was an important step towards correcting the catastrophic failures exposed by the tragedy, and all those responsible have more to do to ensure all lessons are learned."Every Londoner deserves to live in a safe home, something that Grenfell Tower residents were cruelly deprived of." Saturday's events will culminate in a silent walk at Notting Hill Methodist Church at 18:00 BST.
