Latest news with #FranzRuf
1News
a day ago
- 1News
Farewell letter found at home of Austrian school shooter
Investigators found a farewell letter and a non-functional pipe bomb when they searched the home of a man who opened fire at his former school in Austria, killing 10 people and taking his own life, police said today. As Austria mourned the victims of what appeared to be the deadliest attack in its post-World War II history, with a national minute of silence planned in the morning, questions remained about the motive of the shooter. The 21-year-old Austrian man lived near Graz and was a former student at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, in Austria's second-biggest city, who hadn't completed his studies. Police have said that he used two weapons, a shotgun and a handgun, which he appeared to have owned legally. Police officers attend the scene of a shooting at a school in Graz, Austria. (Source: Associated Press) Police didn't elaborate on investigators' findings in a brief post on social network X. But a senior official who acknowledged that the letter had been found last night said it hadn't allowed them to draw conclusions. ADVERTISEMENT '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.' Asked whether the assailant had attacked victims randomly or targeted them specifically, 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.
Qatar Tribune
a day ago
- Qatar Tribune
Plans for bomb attack found in Austrian school shooting suspect's home
dpa Vienna Discarded plans for a bomb attack were found at the home of the suspected perpetrator of a deadly school shooting rampage in the Austrian city of Graz, police said on Wednesday. Police also found a non-functioning pipe bomb during a search of the home of the 21-year-old, who had previously attended the school but not graduated. The suspect opened fire before taking his own life in a bathroom, leaving a total of 11 people dead, most of them teens, police said. The gunman used two legally owned weapons to carry out the mass attack, according to Austrian authorities. His motive is not yet known. According to the police, a farewell letter and video from the attacker contained no clues. Reports that he had been bullied have not yet been confirmed by the authorities. The young man had been a student at the high school until two years ago and had repeated a school year several times, Franz Ruf, a senior official at the Interior Ministry, told radio station Ö1. Police said he lived with his mother. Due to the risk of copycat crimes the police have now stepped up security at schools in Austria. In addition, around 400 special forces across the country are on high alert, according to reports. Officials also updated their information on the victims of the shooting. According to the latest reports, six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17 died at the scene. Police had initially reported that the victims were aged between 15 and 17. A seriously injured teacher died in hospital from her injuries. One of the dead was a Polish national, the others were Austrian citizens. Eleven injured people, aged between 15 and 26, are still being treated in hospital and are in stable condition, police and hospital operator Kages said.
Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Boston Globe
‘We're just speechless': Austria mourns after deadly school rampage
'We're just speechless — this seems to have come from nowhere,' said Simone Saccon, 20, a university student who has spent his life in Graz. He lives near the school, the BORG Dreierschützengasse, and was among those gathered outside Wednesday. Advertisement 'It's something you imagine happens in major cities or in the US, but that it would happen here?' he added. Austria was a nation in mourning Wednesday. Black flags flapped atop the public trams in Graz, a well-to-do city that is the nation's second-largest, after Vienna. At 10 a.m., the trains stopped running briefly as all of Austria observed a minute of silence to honor the victims. There was no further danger to the public, the police had said, even though authorities confirmed they had found an unexploded pipe bomb at the assailant's home. The 21-year-old shooter had left what officials called a 'farewell letter' and a video message to his parents, then returned to the school where he never graduated. He opened fire with a handgun and a shotgun before killing himself in a school bathroom, according to the police. Advertisement Officials said the note had done little to demystify why the young man, who legally obtained his weapons, had embarked on the deadly school shooting — one of Europe's worst in the past decade. Franz Ruf, public security director at the Austrian Interior Ministry, told the television channel ORF that the letter did not seem to include a motive for the attack. And so the nation, like so many communities across the United States and around the world that have endured similar tragedy, was left to wonder what had gone wrong. 'What's really important now is to talk, to be silent together, to listen,' said Paul Nitsche, 51, a pastor who teaches religion at the school and who was standing on the street in front of the mourning area for the students. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker canceled appointments Tuesday to travel to Graz and declared three days of national mourning, including Wednesday's period of silence. Residents and political leaders were struggling to process the shock. On Wednesday morning, a headline at the online site of Kronen Zeitung, the nation's largest newspaper, declared: 'The day after the rampage: Austria cries with Graz.' Most of the victims were schoolchildren — six girls and three boys, ages 14 to 17, according to police. Another victim, a teacher, died later at a hospital. Nitsche was alone in a classroom between lessons when he heard the shots. His first instinct was to hide and wait. 'It was as silent as if it was the middle of the night,' he said. 'Everyone was playing dead — smart.' After it seemed safe, he said, he ran out into a hallway where he saw the gunman trying to get into a locked door by shooting at it. As he raced away, he saw the body of one of the victims, a girl, and kept on running until he saw police officers storming in. 'So many uniforms can be really comforting,' he said. Advertisement Outside the school, makeshift shrines of candles, flowers, and stuffed animals lined the perimeter of the school. Investigators and firefighters were still entering and exiting the premises, but otherwise the school buildings were dark and quiet. Officials canceled school for the remainder of the week as they decide how to proceed. The summer break starts in early July, and many graduating students have yet to take their final exams before potentially going on to university. Belkez Halici, 39, who lives across from the school, was preparing for work Wednesday, tears streaming down her face. She had tried to keep the news from her three children, but they had heard about it on social media, she said, and they were upset and scared. 'I've always said, schools here are not safe,' Halici said. 'With people coming and going, it's like a shopping center.' This article originally appeared in
The Independent
2 days ago
- The Independent
Austria falls silent for victims of Graz school shooting
Austria fell silent for a minute on Wednesday in memory of the 10 victims of a school shooting in Graz that ended with the gunman taking his own life. Hundreds of people lined the central square in Austria's second-biggest city; some laid more candles and flowers in front of the city hall, adding to a growing memorial to the victims. Meanwhile, neighbours and officials painted the picture of the suspect as a withdrawn young man who attracted little attention before Tuesday's gun rampage. Authorities have given few details about the 21-year-old, which Austrian media have referred to as Arthur A., except that he failed to complete his studies at the Dreierschatzengasse high school in Graz. Police said they found a farewell letter and a non-functional pipe bomb when they searched his home. He is believed to have used two weapons, a shotgun and a handgun, which he owned legally. 'A farewell letter in analogue and digital form was found,' said Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria's Interior Ministry. In the commuter town of Kalsdorf bei Graz, where he lived, residents 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. 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. 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 wearing 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. 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.
Dubai Eye
2 days ago
- Dubai Eye
Austrian police search for answers after mass shooting in school
Austrian authorities were searching on Wednesday for answers to why a 21-year-old gunman shot 10 people in a rampage at his former high school before killing himself, one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the country's modern history. Police said the man, armed with a shotgun and a pistol, acted alone. They are scouring his home and the internet for clues to why he opened fire on the school in Austria's second city of Graz on Tuesday, before shooting himself in a bathroom. Police added that a pipe bomb found at his home was not functional. Some Austrian media have said the young man, who has not been identified, apparently felt bullied, though police have yet to confirm this. Austrian authorities said the suspect never completed his studies at the school. He left a farewell note that did not reveal the motive for the attack, police said. Franz Ruf, director general of public security, said investigations into the motive were moving swiftly. "We don't want to speculate at this point," he told national broadcaster ORF on Tuesday night. Around 17 minutes elapsed between the first emergency calls received by police about shots being fired at the school and the scene being declared safe, Ruf said. Details of the attack have emerged slowly. Austrian police said victims were found both outside and inside the school, on various floors. About a dozen people were injured in the attack, some seriously. Austria declared three days of national mourning, with the shootings prompting a rare show of solidarity among often bitterly divided political parties. Parents of pupils and neighbours of the school struggled to make sense of the event. Hundreds came together in Graz's main square on Tuesday evening to remember the victims. Others left flowers and lit candles outside the school. Dozens also queued to donate blood for the survivors.
