Latest news with #MichaelLohnegger
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
School killings leave stunned Austria and France searching for answers
Two shocking attacks within two hours of each other, in France and Austria, have left parents and governments reeling and at a loss how to protect school students from random, deadly violence. At about 08:15 on Tuesday, a 14-year-old boy from an ordinary family in Nogent, eastern France, drew out a kitchen knife during a school bag check and fatally stabbed a school assistant. Not long afterwards in south-east Austria, a 21-year-old who had dropped out of school three years earlier, walked into Dreierschützengasse high school in Graz at 09:43, and shot dead nine students and a teacher with a Glock 19 handgun and a sawn-off shotgun. In both countries there is a demand for solutions and for a greater focus on young people who resort to such violence. Austria has never seen a school attack on this scale, but the French stabbing took place during a government programme aimed at tackling the growth in knife crime. The Graz shooter, named by Austrian media as Arthur A, has been described by police as a very introverted person, who had retreated to the virtual world. His "great passion" was online first-person shooter games, and he had social contacts with other gamers over the internet, according to Michael Lohnegger, the criminal investigation chief in Styria, the state where it happened. A former student at the Dreierschützengasse school, Arthur A had failed to complete his studies. Arriving at the school, he put on a headset and shooting glasses, before going on a deadly seven-minute shooting spree. He then killed himself in a school bathroom. He owned the two guns legally, had passed a psychological test to own a licence and had several sessions of weapons training earlier this year at a Graz shooting club. This has sparked a big debate in Austria about whether its gun laws need to be tightened – and about the level of care available for troubled young people. It has emerged that the shooter was rejected from the country's compulsory military service in July 2021. Defence ministry spokesman Michael Bauer told the BBC that Arthur A was found to be "psychologically unfit" for service after he underwent tests. But he said Austria's legal system prevented the army from passing on the results of such tests. There are now calls for that law to be changed. Alex, the mother of a 17-year-old boy who survived the shooting, told the BBC that more should have been done to prevent people like Arthur A from dropping out of school in the first place. "We know… that when people shoot each other like this, it's mostly when they feel alone and drop out and be outside. And we don't know how to get them back in, into society, into the groups, into their peer groups," she said. "We, as grown-ups, have got the responsibility for that, and we have to take it now." President Alexander Van der Bellen raised the possibility of tightening Austria's gun laws, on a visit to Graz after the attack: "If we come to the conclusion that Austria's gun laws need to be changed to ensure greater safety, then we will do so." Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 people. Although there have been school shootings here before, they have been far smaller and involved far fewer casualties. The mayor of Graz, Elke Kahr, believes no private person should be able to have weapons at all. "Weapons licences are issued too quickly," she told Austria's ORF TV. "Only the police should carry weapons, not private individuals." What we know about Austria school shooting Graz in shock and grief after attack Armed gendarmes were present at the entrance to the Françoise Dolto middle school in Nogent, 100km (62 miles) east of Paris, when a teenager pulled out a 20cm kitchen knife and repeatedly stabbed Mélanie G, who was 31 and had a four-year-old son. The boy accused of carrying out the murder told police that he had been reprimanded on Friday by another school assistant for kissing his girlfriend. As a result he had a grudge against school assistants in general, and apparently had made up his mind to kill one. Schools were closed on Monday for a bank holiday, and Tuesday was his first day back. The state prosecutor's initial assessment was that the boy, called Quentin, came from a normal functioning family, and had no criminal or mental health record. However, the child also appeared detached and emotionless. Adept at violent video games, he showed a "fascination with death" and an "absence of reference-points relating to the value of human life". The Nogent attack does not fit the template of anti-social youth crime or gang violence seen in France until now. Nor is there any suggestion of indoctrination over social media. According to the prosecutor, the boy did little of that. He had been violent on two occasions against fellow pupils, and was suspended for a day each time. There is no family breakdown or deprivation and school officials described him as "sociable, a pretty good student, well-integrated into the life of the establishment". This year he had even been named the class "ambassador" on bullying. For all the calls for greater security at schools, this crime took place literally under the noses of armed gendarmes. As Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau put it, some crimes will happen no matter how many police you deploy. For more information on the boy's state of mind, we must wait for the full psychologist's report, and it may well be that there were signs missed, or there are family details we do not yet know about. On the face of it, he is perhaps more a middle-class loner, and his apparent normality suggests a crime triggered by internalised mental processes, rather than by peer-driven association or emulation. That is what strikes the chord in France. If an ordinary boy can turn out like this from watching too many violent videos, then who is next? Significantly, the French government had only just approved showing the British Netflix series Adolescence as an aid in schools. There are differences, of course. The boy arrested for the killing of a teenage girl in the TV series yields to evil "toxic male" influences on social media – but there is the same question of teenagers being made vulnerable by isolation online. Across the political spectrum, there are calls for action but little agreement on what should be the priority, nor hope that anything can make much difference. Before the killing, President Emmanuel Macron had angered the right by saying they were too obsessed with crime, and not sufficiently interested in other issues like the environment. The Nogent attack put him on the back foot, and he has repeated his pledge to ban social media to under 15-year-olds. But there are two difficulties. One is the practicality of the measure, which in theory is being dealt with by the EU but is succumbing to endless procrastination. The other is that, according to the prosecutor, the boy was not especially interested in social media. It was violent video games that were his thing. Prime Minister François Bayrou has said that sales of knives to under-15s will be banned. But the boy took his from home. Bayrou says airport-style metal-detectors should be tested at schools, but most heads are opposed. The populist right wants tougher sentences for teenagers carrying knives, and the exclusion of disruptive pupils from regular classes. But the boy in Nogent was not a problem child. About the only measure everyone says is needed is more provision of school doctors, nurses and psychologists in order to detect early signs of pupils going off the rails. That of course will require a lot of money, which is another thing France does not have a lot of.
Euronews
2 days ago
- Euronews
Gunman planned Austrian school shooting that killed 10, police say
The 21-year-old gunman who went to his former school in Graz on Tuesday and shot 10 people dead and injured a further 11 had carefully planned his rampage in advance. That's according to a statement by the public prosecutor's office and the police at a press conference on Thursday. During a search of his house, investigators found a non-functional pipe bomb, notes and plans. According to police, the pipe bomb contained all the components. His notes express regret that he did not have time to properly finalise his plans. A farewell letter was also among the items found, but according to investigators, it does not provide any further information about the perpetrator's motive and reads more like an apology to his family. Investigators also revealed that the young man, who lived with his mother, had lived a secluded life. He was reportedly introverted, withdrew mainly into the virtual world where his main social contact came from and played first-person shooter games. Three years ago, he dropped out of school without graduating. The 21-year-old had no criminal record. Michael Lohnegger, the head of the Styrian state police, explained that the perpetrator entered the school on Tuesday at 9:43 am. He was carrying a rucksack containing a Glock 19 pistol, a sawn-off double-barrelled shotgun and ammunition. He went to the school toilet on the third floor, put on a gun belt, shooting glasses and a headset. There were 400 pupils in the school at the time. The gunman, then heavily armed, went to the second floor and shot indiscriminately at people there and at 10:07 am went back to the third floor toilet where he shot himself. The first police patrol arrived at the school at 10:06 am, by which time the rampage was over and the gunman already dead. Investigators assume that the 21-year-old did not know the young people he shot, although the teacher who was killed had taught at the school at the time the gunman was a pupil there. The police investigation is still ongoing, with a laptop and a USB stick still to be analysed. So far, there are no concrete clues as to the motive for the shooting. The Union of Savings and Investments is "an idea that seeks to create opportunities for people's savings to be invested with a higher return, especially when we think of long-term savings,' she said. 'We will issue a recommendation to the Member States to create a savings and investment account, through which a set of investment options that are simple, low-cost (...) and with tax incentives will be made available so that people feel more drawn to this type of investment." The European Commissioner acknowledges that the alternative to fixed-term deposits is investment in financial products with higher risk, in the medium- and long-term. "We will recommend to the Member States that they create these accounts, in which the products offered are, obviously, suitable to the profile of the retail investor. But yes, investment in the capital market involves risk. There is no capital guarantee." But, if the money is a low-interest deposit, bank customers are losing money due to inflation. "They are, in a way that they do not realise, probably. Because, if we put €1,000 in a deposit, at the end of the period we will receive that €1,000 plus interest. The truth is that with that €1,000, we can buy fewer things. When it is said that money is lost in deposits, it is not losing in terms of euros, but what we can purchase with them. It is, therefore, a loss and a waste of the savings effort," emphasised Maria Luís Albuquerque. Regarding the protectionist positions of some EU governments concerning mergers and acquisitions of foreign banks, as is the case with Portugal, the European Commissioner has a warning. "There are, in fact, very focused protectionist attitudes regarding a national perspective. I have been saying that we need to change our way of thinking and we must understand that being domestic means being European,' she said. 'The Commission, as you know, never comments on specific cases. But, concerning banking issues, we have in place a banking union that already involves all the countries in the euro area, and in which the rules that must be followed for mergers and acquisitions of banking institutions are defined. It is the European Central Bank, the relevant supervisor, and the competition authorities that must pronounce on any specific operation." European companies and banks need to be bigger and gain scale to compete with the US and other regions, argues Maria Luís Albuquerque. "For us to compete with the United States, with China, with the big international blocs, we need the muscle that represents the European Union as a whole and not each of the member states per se.' 'Because none of us is big enough, even the largest, or powerful enough to face that level of competition. Therefore, in that sense, we need companies and banks that are capable of competing with the big global financial institutions to offer more and better services, at more competitive prices," Maria Luís Albuquerque explained.
South Wales Guardian
2 days ago
- South Wales Guardian
Austrian school shooter planned attack but motive still unclear, officials say
However, he appears to have shot his victims at random, and investigators have still not been able to ascertain his motive. The 21-year-old had left the BORG Dreierschutzengasse high school in Graz three years previously, breaking off his studies after attending for three years, police say. They said they knew of no personal connection between the gunman and the students he had shot, but that one of the two teachers he shot had once taught him. Officials were still investigating whether that was a factor in the attack. The incident prompted Austria to declare three days of national mourning and large numbers of candles have been laid in Graz's main square and outside the school. The assailant, an Austrian man who lived with his mother near Graz and whom officials have declined to identify, used a Mercury double-barrelled shotgun and a Glock 19 handgun in the shooting. Michael Lohnegger, the head of Styria province's criminal police office, said that he arrived at the school on Tuesday morning with a backpack containing the weapons, and put on equipment including shooting glasses and a headset in the bathroom before starting a roughly seven-minute shooting spree. The gunman opened fire indiscriminately on the building's third floor before shooting open the locked door of a fourth-floor classroom and again firing indiscriminately, Mr Lohnegger told a news conference. Mr Lohnegger said that the gunman had enough ammunition to continue shooting and it was unclear why he had not. The gunman then returned to the bathroom and fatally shot himself in the head. A search of his home uncovered a farewell letter and a video, which Mr Lohnegger said added up to 'an apology directed to his family for the crime and a general thank you', but offered 'no indication for the motive'. Authorities also found a handwritten note that showed he had planned the attack 'down to the smallest detail', setting out how he would proceed but giving no date for the crime. The note had suggested that he had lacked enough time to build a fully functional pipe bomb. Investigators had found one, but it would not have worked. Mr Lohnegger said a picture had emerged of a 'very introverted person' who largely did not take part in real-world activities and that his great passion was playing online first-person shooter games. 'But even here, there is no information from his personal surroundings that he ever expressed any anger or resentment towards the school, students or teachers,' he added. The man had no previous police record and 'there were definitely no particular problems with him at this school'. The gunman was in unspecified vocational training at the time of the attack, investigators added. He had bought the shotgun legally in Graz in early April and the handgun was bought from another shop in the city in late May. He had a licence to own the weapons that required a report from a psychological expert, which was allegedly produced in March. The gunman also took part in shooting practice five times in March at a shooting club in Graz using a hired firearm, Mr Lohnegger said. Six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17 and a teacher were killed in the attack. Eleven people were wounded and authorities said that their lives were not in danger.
Leader Live
2 days ago
- Leader Live
Austrian school shooter planned attack but motive still unclear, officials say
However, he appears to have shot his victims at random, and investigators have still not been able to ascertain his motive. The 21-year-old had left the BORG Dreierschutzengasse high school in Graz three years previously, breaking off his studies after attending for three years, police say. They said they knew of no personal connection between the gunman and the students he had shot, but that one of the two teachers he shot had once taught him. Officials were still investigating whether that was a factor in the attack. The incident prompted Austria to declare three days of national mourning and large numbers of candles have been laid in Graz's main square and outside the school. The assailant, an Austrian man who lived with his mother near Graz and whom officials have declined to identify, used a Mercury double-barrelled shotgun and a Glock 19 handgun in the shooting. Michael Lohnegger, the head of Styria province's criminal police office, said that he arrived at the school on Tuesday morning with a backpack containing the weapons, and put on equipment including shooting glasses and a headset in the bathroom before starting a roughly seven-minute shooting spree. The gunman opened fire indiscriminately on the building's third floor before shooting open the locked door of a fourth-floor classroom and again firing indiscriminately, Mr Lohnegger told a news conference. Mr Lohnegger said that the gunman had enough ammunition to continue shooting and it was unclear why he had not. The gunman then returned to the bathroom and fatally shot himself in the head. A search of his home uncovered a farewell letter and a video, which Mr Lohnegger said added up to 'an apology directed to his family for the crime and a general thank you', but offered 'no indication for the motive'. Authorities also found a handwritten note that showed he had planned the attack 'down to the smallest detail', setting out how he would proceed but giving no date for the crime. The note had suggested that he had lacked enough time to build a fully functional pipe bomb. Investigators had found one, but it would not have worked. Mr Lohnegger said a picture had emerged of a 'very introverted person' who largely did not take part in real-world activities and that his great passion was playing online first-person shooter games. 'But even here, there is no information from his personal surroundings that he ever expressed any anger or resentment towards the school, students or teachers,' he added. The man had no previous police record and 'there were definitely no particular problems with him at this school'. The gunman was in unspecified vocational training at the time of the attack, investigators added. He had bought the shotgun legally in Graz in early April and the handgun was bought from another shop in the city in late May. He had a licence to own the weapons that required a report from a psychological expert, which was allegedly produced in March. The gunman also took part in shooting practice five times in March at a shooting club in Graz using a hired firearm, Mr Lohnegger said. Six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17 and a teacher were killed in the attack. Eleven people were wounded and authorities said that their lives were not in danger.
North Wales Chronicle
2 days ago
- North Wales Chronicle
Austrian school shooter planned attack but motive still unclear, officials say
However, he appears to have shot his victims at random, and investigators have still not been able to ascertain his motive. The 21-year-old had left the BORG Dreierschutzengasse high school in Graz three years previously, breaking off his studies after attending for three years, police say. They said they knew of no personal connection between the gunman and the students he had shot, but that one of the two teachers he shot had once taught him. Officials were still investigating whether that was a factor in the attack. The incident prompted Austria to declare three days of national mourning and large numbers of candles have been laid in Graz's main square and outside the school. The assailant, an Austrian man who lived with his mother near Graz and whom officials have declined to identify, used a Mercury double-barrelled shotgun and a Glock 19 handgun in the shooting. Michael Lohnegger, the head of Styria province's criminal police office, said that he arrived at the school on Tuesday morning with a backpack containing the weapons, and put on equipment including shooting glasses and a headset in the bathroom before starting a roughly seven-minute shooting spree. The gunman opened fire indiscriminately on the building's third floor before shooting open the locked door of a fourth-floor classroom and again firing indiscriminately, Mr Lohnegger told a news conference. Mr Lohnegger said that the gunman had enough ammunition to continue shooting and it was unclear why he had not. The gunman then returned to the bathroom and fatally shot himself in the head. A search of his home uncovered a farewell letter and a video, which Mr Lohnegger said added up to 'an apology directed to his family for the crime and a general thank you', but offered 'no indication for the motive'. Authorities also found a handwritten note that showed he had planned the attack 'down to the smallest detail', setting out how he would proceed but giving no date for the crime. The note had suggested that he had lacked enough time to build a fully functional pipe bomb. Investigators had found one, but it would not have worked. Mr Lohnegger said a picture had emerged of a 'very introverted person' who largely did not take part in real-world activities and that his great passion was playing online first-person shooter games. 'But even here, there is no information from his personal surroundings that he ever expressed any anger or resentment towards the school, students or teachers,' he added. The man had no previous police record and 'there were definitely no particular problems with him at this school'. The gunman was in unspecified vocational training at the time of the attack, investigators added. He had bought the shotgun legally in Graz in early April and the handgun was bought from another shop in the city in late May. He had a licence to own the weapons that required a report from a psychological expert, which was allegedly produced in March. The gunman also took part in shooting practice five times in March at a shooting club in Graz using a hired firearm, Mr Lohnegger said. Six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17 and a teacher were killed in the attack. Eleven people were wounded and authorities said that their lives were not in danger.
