Latest news with #PaulNitsche
Daily Tribune
a day ago
- Daily Tribune
‘This isn't real': teacher's narrow escape from Austria school shooter
A teacher told how he found himself in a corridor with the shooter who killed 10 people in an Austrian school as he fled his empty classroom. Religion teacher Paul Nitsche was working on his own with the door open on the upper floor of the Dreierschuetzengasse secondary school in Graz when the shooting started. 'I heard this bang. And I blocked it out,' the 51-year-old told reporters, whose students were elsewhere sitting their final-year exams. It was only when he heard the sound of bullet casings hitting the floor of a corridor outside, that 'something snapped inside me' and the realisation dawned, he said. 'I jumped up and thought, that as a teacher alone in a classroom with a possible attacker, this is a very bad situation. 'And I decided to run. 'I ran out quickly through the corridor, which is only a few metres long, and then down the stairs.' It was then that the evangelical pastor saw the shooter in the corridor of the floor below. 'You try to block everything out' 'He was trying to shoot the door (of a classroom) open with his rifle. 'He was busy.... and I didn't look around much either... I didn't hang around,' Nitsche said. 'And as I ran down the stairs, I thought to myself, 'This isn't real, this is a film.'' But when he got to the lower floor 'I saw a student lying on the floor and a teacher was there, and I knew, 'Ah, this is serious.' 'As a human being, you really try (to understand what is happening), but (at the same time) you really try to block everything out,' the pastor added. 'I think the emergency services were there a minute or two later, thank God.' What struck Nitsche was the eerie silence that had fallen over the school. 'There was total silence. No screaming, nothing. That's not what school is like. Nitsche said it was hard to grasp the enormity of what had happened. What he experienced was just one part of 'a mosaic with lots of pieces'. He went back to help comfort students outside the school Wednesday.
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Malay Mail
‘This isn't real': Teacher recalls terrifying escape as Austria reels from school shooting that left 10 dead
GRAZ, June 12 — A teacher told how he found himself in a corridor with the shooter who killed 10 people in an Austrian school as he fled his empty classroom. Religion teacher Paul Nitsche was working on his own with the door open on the upper floor of the Dreierschuetzengasse secondary school in Graz when the shooting started. 'I heard this bang. And I blocked it out,' the 51-year-old told reporters, whose students were elsewhere sitting their final-year exams. It was only when he heard the sound of bullet casings hitting the floor of a corridor outside, that 'something snapped inside me' and the realisation dawned, he said. 'I jumped up and thought, that as a teacher alone in a classroom with a possible attacker, this is a very bad situation. 'And I decided to run. 'I ran out quickly through the corridor, which is only a few metres long, and then down the stairs.' It was then that the evangelical pastor saw the shooter in the corridor of the floor below. 'You try to block everything out' 'He was trying to shoot the door (of a classroom) open with his rifle. 'He was busy.... and I didn't look around much either... I didn't hang around,' Nitsche said. 'And as I ran down the stairs, I thought to myself, 'This isn't real, this is a film.'' But when he got to the lower floor 'I saw a student lying on the floor and a teacher was there, and I knew, 'Ah, this is serious.' 'As a human being, you really try (to understand what is happening), but (at the same time) you really try to block everything out,' the pastor added. 'I think the emergency services were there a minute or two later, thank God.' What struck Nitsche was the eerie silence that had fallen over the school. 'There was total silence. No screaming, nothing. That's not what school is like. Nitsche said it was hard to grasp the enormity of what had happened. What he experienced was just one part of 'a mosaic with lots of pieces'. He went back to help comfort students outside the school Wednesday. A city in shock A large black banner, 'Graz stands together', was strung across a fence nearby as Austria's second-largest city tried to come to terms with the tragedy. Small groups of students, most dressed in black and many of them crying, placed candles at the entrance of the closed school. Tuesday's shooting is an unprecedented case of deadly gun violence in the usually peaceful Alpine country. Police said the shooter, a 21-year-old former student at the school, killed himself in a toilet after leaving 10 dead and wounding 11 others, including two Romanians and an Iranian. Police found a 'non-functional' homemade pipe bomb during a search of his home in the quiet village of Kalsdorf, just 30 minutes from Graz, where he lived with his mother. A goodbye letter and a video message addressed to her was also recovered, though it included no clues to his motive for the attack. The suspect usually donned 'a cap and headphones' and 'didn't greet,' said Thomas Gasser, a 38-year-old supermarket employee, who lives nearby. 'Nothing is the same anymore,' said the neighbour, recalling that '15 to 20' officers of Austria's elite 'Cobra' force had raided the suspect's apartment around noon on Tuesday. 'Everyone knows each other here, and it will be difficult to get over this,' said local politician Anna Slama. For architect Thomas Klietmann the attack brought back memories of another tragedy that occurred a decade ago, when a 26-year-old man killed a child and two adults by ramming his car into a crowd. 'You can see here how the whole city, probably the whole country is reeling,' Michael Saad, a 22-year-old student, told AFP at a candlelight vigil late Tuesday. Hundreds gathered in Graz on Tuesday, placing candles at the feet of a monument in the central square in a sombre atmosphere as people stood in silence. — AFP
Gulf Today
2 days ago
- Gulf Today
Austrian police search for answers after mass shooting in school
Austrian authorities were seeking clues on Wednesday to why a 21-year-old gunman shot dead 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 acted alone, armed with a shotgun and a pistol. They are scouring his home and the internet to understand why he opened fire on the school in Austria's second city of Graz on Tuesday, before shooting himself in a bathroom. The incident was hard to take in, said a religious studies teacher at the school, Paul Nitsche, who left his classroom before the gunman tried to enter, and briefly saw him trying to shoot the lock off another door. "This is something I couldn't even imagine before," he told national broadcaster ORF. "That's what the situation was like as I ran down the stairwell. I thought to myself: 'This wasn't real.'" Some Austrian media have said the young man, who has not been identified, apparently felt bullied, though police have yet to confirm this. Authorities said the suspect did not complete his studies at the school. Police work near a school where several people died in a shooting. Photo: AFP Police said he left a farewell note that did not reveal the motive for the attack and that a pipe bomb found at his home was not functional. Ennio Resnik, a pupil at the school, said students and teachers needed time to come to terms with what had happened, and asked that they be left in peace for a few days. "It's surreal, you can't describe or really understand it," he said, speaking to reporters outside an events centre near the school where students were being offered counselling. Some of the students gathered there cried, while others held each other. SECOND SCHOOL THREATENED Franz Ruf, director general of public security, said investigations into the motive were moving swiftly. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker (centre) attends a memorial service. "We don't want to speculate at this point," he told ORF on Tuesday night. Police were on the alert for potential copycat attacks and they had received a threat against another school in Graz late on Tuesday, he said. In the earlier attack, about 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. Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, says the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. The attack sparked calls for its gun laws to be tightened, including one from Graz's mayor. Police said the guns used were in the suspect's possession legally, and Ruf said that while Austrian gun laws are strict, the case was being looked into. "If there are any loopholes, they need to be closed," he said. People light candles at a makeshift memorial site. Details of the attack have emerged slowly. 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. Reuters
SowetanLIVE
2 days ago
- SowetanLIVE
Austrian police search for answers after mass shooting in school
Austrian authorities were searching on Wednesday for clues as to why a 21-year-old gunman shot dead 10 people in a rampage at his former high school before killing himself, in one of the worst outbreaks of violence in the country's modern history. Police said the man had acted alone, armed with a shotgun and a pistol. They are scouring his home and the internet to find out why he opened fire at the school in Austria's second city of Graz on Tuesday, before shooting himself in a bathroom. Austria came to a standstill at 10am on Wednesday to commemorate the dead with one minute's silence. Churches rang funeral bells, including St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where about 900 public transport vehicles halted for a minute. Public broadcaster ORF paused all radio and TV programmes for one minute, with TV showing images of candles and a message to say the country was mourning the victims. The incident is hard to take in, said a religious studies teacher at the school, Paul Nitsche, who left his classroom before the gunman tried to enter, and briefly saw him trying to shoot the lock off another door. 'This is something I couldn't even imagine before,' he told ORF. 'That's what the situation was like as I ran down the stairwell. I thought to myself: 'This isn't real.'' Some Austrian media have said the young man, who has not been formally identified, apparently felt bullied, though police have not confirmed this. Authorities said the suspect had not completed his studies at the school. Police said he had left a farewell note which did not reveal the motive for the attack and that a pipe bomb found at his home was not functional. Ennio Resnik, a pupil at the school, said students and teachers needed time to come to terms with what had happened, and asked that they be left in peace for a few days. 'It's surreal, you can't describe or really understand it,' he said, speaking to reporters outside an events centre near the school where students were being offered counselling. Some of the students gathered there cried, while others held each other.
The Advertiser
2 days ago
- The Advertiser
Austria comes to a standstill to mourn shooting victims
Austria has come to a standstill to mourn victims of one of the worst outbreaks of violence in its modern history, as authorities search for clues to why a 21-year-old gunman shot dead 10 people at his former high school before turning the gun on himself. Police said the man had acted alone in Tuesday's rampage, armed with a shotgun and a pistol. They are scouring his home and the internet to find out why he opened fire at the school in Austria's second city of Graz, before shooting himself in a bathroom. Authorities have not identified the man, who they said was an Austrian citizen living with his mother in an apartment in a suburb of Graz. Local media named him as Arthur A, and that he studied IT at the school, which he left without graduating. The dead were commemorated with a minute's silence at 10am. Churches rang funeral bells, including St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where about 900 public transport vehicles halted for a minute. Public broadcaster ORF paused all radio and TV programs for one minute, with TV showing a message to say the country was mourning the victims. The incident was hard to take in, said a religious studies teacher at the school, Paul Nitsche, who left his classroom before the gunman tried to enter, and briefly saw him trying to shoot the lock off another door. "This is something I couldn't even imagine before," he told ORF. "That's what the situation was like as I ran down the stairwell. I thought to myself: 'This wasn't real.'" Police said the gunman had left a farewell note and video that did not reveal the motive for the attack and that a non-functional pipe bomb and a discarded plan for a bomb attack were found at his home. They did not give details of his messages. Some Austrian media said the young man apparently felt bullied, though police have not confirmed this. Ennio Resnik, a pupil at the school, said students and teachers needed time to come to terms with what had happened, and asked that they be left in peace for a few days. "It's surreal, you can't describe or really understand it," he said, speaking to reporters outside an events centre near the school where students were being offered counselling. Some of the students there cried; others held each other. Six girls and three boys, aged 14 to 17, were among the victims. All the dead barring one Polish youth were Austrian citizens, police said. A teacher died from her injuries, and 11 people injured are in a stable condition, they 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 ORF. Police were on the alert for potential copycat attacks and they had received a threat against another school in Graz late on Tuesday, he said. In Tuesday's attack, about 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. Austria - though normally a safe and peaceful country with low levels of crime - has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, says the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. The attack sparked calls, including from Graz's mayor, for gun laws to be tightened. Police said the guns used were in the suspect's possession legally, and Ruf said that while Austrian gun laws were strict, the case was being looked into. "If there are any loopholes, they need to be closed," he said. Details of the attack have emerged slowly. Police said victims were found both outside and inside the school, on various floors. Austria declared three days of mourning, with the shootings prompting a rare show of solidarity among often bitterly divided political parties. Austria has come to a standstill to mourn victims of one of the worst outbreaks of violence in its modern history, as authorities search for clues to why a 21-year-old gunman shot dead 10 people at his former high school before turning the gun on himself. Police said the man had acted alone in Tuesday's rampage, armed with a shotgun and a pistol. They are scouring his home and the internet to find out why he opened fire at the school in Austria's second city of Graz, before shooting himself in a bathroom. Authorities have not identified the man, who they said was an Austrian citizen living with his mother in an apartment in a suburb of Graz. Local media named him as Arthur A, and that he studied IT at the school, which he left without graduating. The dead were commemorated with a minute's silence at 10am. Churches rang funeral bells, including St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where about 900 public transport vehicles halted for a minute. Public broadcaster ORF paused all radio and TV programs for one minute, with TV showing a message to say the country was mourning the victims. The incident was hard to take in, said a religious studies teacher at the school, Paul Nitsche, who left his classroom before the gunman tried to enter, and briefly saw him trying to shoot the lock off another door. "This is something I couldn't even imagine before," he told ORF. "That's what the situation was like as I ran down the stairwell. I thought to myself: 'This wasn't real.'" Police said the gunman had left a farewell note and video that did not reveal the motive for the attack and that a non-functional pipe bomb and a discarded plan for a bomb attack were found at his home. They did not give details of his messages. Some Austrian media said the young man apparently felt bullied, though police have not confirmed this. Ennio Resnik, a pupil at the school, said students and teachers needed time to come to terms with what had happened, and asked that they be left in peace for a few days. "It's surreal, you can't describe or really understand it," he said, speaking to reporters outside an events centre near the school where students were being offered counselling. Some of the students there cried; others held each other. Six girls and three boys, aged 14 to 17, were among the victims. All the dead barring one Polish youth were Austrian citizens, police said. A teacher died from her injuries, and 11 people injured are in a stable condition, they 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 ORF. Police were on the alert for potential copycat attacks and they had received a threat against another school in Graz late on Tuesday, he said. In Tuesday's attack, about 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. Austria - though normally a safe and peaceful country with low levels of crime - has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, says the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. The attack sparked calls, including from Graz's mayor, for gun laws to be tightened. Police said the guns used were in the suspect's possession legally, and Ruf said that while Austrian gun laws were strict, the case was being looked into. "If there are any loopholes, they need to be closed," he said. Details of the attack have emerged slowly. Police said victims were found both outside and inside the school, on various floors. Austria declared three days of mourning, with the shootings prompting a rare show of solidarity among often bitterly divided political parties. Austria has come to a standstill to mourn victims of one of the worst outbreaks of violence in its modern history, as authorities search for clues to why a 21-year-old gunman shot dead 10 people at his former high school before turning the gun on himself. Police said the man had acted alone in Tuesday's rampage, armed with a shotgun and a pistol. They are scouring his home and the internet to find out why he opened fire at the school in Austria's second city of Graz, before shooting himself in a bathroom. Authorities have not identified the man, who they said was an Austrian citizen living with his mother in an apartment in a suburb of Graz. Local media named him as Arthur A, and that he studied IT at the school, which he left without graduating. The dead were commemorated with a minute's silence at 10am. Churches rang funeral bells, including St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where about 900 public transport vehicles halted for a minute. Public broadcaster ORF paused all radio and TV programs for one minute, with TV showing a message to say the country was mourning the victims. The incident was hard to take in, said a religious studies teacher at the school, Paul Nitsche, who left his classroom before the gunman tried to enter, and briefly saw him trying to shoot the lock off another door. "This is something I couldn't even imagine before," he told ORF. "That's what the situation was like as I ran down the stairwell. I thought to myself: 'This wasn't real.'" Police said the gunman had left a farewell note and video that did not reveal the motive for the attack and that a non-functional pipe bomb and a discarded plan for a bomb attack were found at his home. They did not give details of his messages. Some Austrian media said the young man apparently felt bullied, though police have not confirmed this. Ennio Resnik, a pupil at the school, said students and teachers needed time to come to terms with what had happened, and asked that they be left in peace for a few days. "It's surreal, you can't describe or really understand it," he said, speaking to reporters outside an events centre near the school where students were being offered counselling. Some of the students there cried; others held each other. Six girls and three boys, aged 14 to 17, were among the victims. All the dead barring one Polish youth were Austrian citizens, police said. A teacher died from her injuries, and 11 people injured are in a stable condition, they 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 ORF. Police were on the alert for potential copycat attacks and they had received a threat against another school in Graz late on Tuesday, he said. In Tuesday's attack, about 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. Austria - though normally a safe and peaceful country with low levels of crime - has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, says the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. The attack sparked calls, including from Graz's mayor, for gun laws to be tightened. Police said the guns used were in the suspect's possession legally, and Ruf said that while Austrian gun laws were strict, the case was being looked into. "If there are any loopholes, they need to be closed," he said. Details of the attack have emerged slowly. Police said victims were found both outside and inside the school, on various floors. Austria declared three days of mourning, with the shootings prompting a rare show of solidarity among often bitterly divided political parties. Austria has come to a standstill to mourn victims of one of the worst outbreaks of violence in its modern history, as authorities search for clues to why a 21-year-old gunman shot dead 10 people at his former high school before turning the gun on himself. Police said the man had acted alone in Tuesday's rampage, armed with a shotgun and a pistol. They are scouring his home and the internet to find out why he opened fire at the school in Austria's second city of Graz, before shooting himself in a bathroom. Authorities have not identified the man, who they said was an Austrian citizen living with his mother in an apartment in a suburb of Graz. Local media named him as Arthur A, and that he studied IT at the school, which he left without graduating. The dead were commemorated with a minute's silence at 10am. Churches rang funeral bells, including St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where about 900 public transport vehicles halted for a minute. Public broadcaster ORF paused all radio and TV programs for one minute, with TV showing a message to say the country was mourning the victims. The incident was hard to take in, said a religious studies teacher at the school, Paul Nitsche, who left his classroom before the gunman tried to enter, and briefly saw him trying to shoot the lock off another door. "This is something I couldn't even imagine before," he told ORF. "That's what the situation was like as I ran down the stairwell. I thought to myself: 'This wasn't real.'" Police said the gunman had left a farewell note and video that did not reveal the motive for the attack and that a non-functional pipe bomb and a discarded plan for a bomb attack were found at his home. They did not give details of his messages. Some Austrian media said the young man apparently felt bullied, though police have not confirmed this. Ennio Resnik, a pupil at the school, said students and teachers needed time to come to terms with what had happened, and asked that they be left in peace for a few days. "It's surreal, you can't describe or really understand it," he said, speaking to reporters outside an events centre near the school where students were being offered counselling. Some of the students there cried; others held each other. Six girls and three boys, aged 14 to 17, were among the victims. All the dead barring one Polish youth were Austrian citizens, police said. A teacher died from her injuries, and 11 people injured are in a stable condition, they 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 ORF. Police were on the alert for potential copycat attacks and they had received a threat against another school in Graz late on Tuesday, he said. In Tuesday's attack, about 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. Austria - though normally a safe and peaceful country with low levels of crime - has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, says the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project. The attack sparked calls, including from Graz's mayor, for gun laws to be tightened. Police said the guns used were in the suspect's possession legally, and Ruf said that while Austrian gun laws were strict, the case was being looked into. "If there are any loopholes, they need to be closed," he said. Details of the attack have emerged slowly. Police said victims were found both outside and inside the school, on various floors. Austria declared three days of mourning, with the shootings prompting a rare show of solidarity among often bitterly divided political parties.
