Austria school shooting latest: Gunman who killed 10 in Graz was former student who took his own life in toilet

The 21-year-old pupil who shot dead 10 people at a secondary school in Austria’s second city, Graz, on Tuesday was armed with both a shotgun and a pistol.

Director General of Public Security Franz Ruf told state broadcaster ORF that victims were found outside and inside the school on various floors.

Police said they believed the shooter, who was found dead in a bathroom, had been operating alone when he entered the school with two guns and opened fire. His motive remained unclear.

The Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper said in an unconfirmed report that the suspect had opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his own. It said he had been a victim of bullying.

Hundreds of people poured onto the streets of Graz in Austria to hold a vigil for the 10 victims of a school shooting.

Authorities said the gunman, a 21-year-old Austrian national, opened fire at the BORG school in Graz, before turning the gun on himself.”It shocked me a lot like everybody else,” local resident Elisabeth Schuster was quoted by Euro News as saying.

“I’m with them, feel for them. And I hope that together we can find a way, so that something like this never happens again,” she added, referring to the victims.

Austrian chancellor Christian Stocker, along with vice chancellor Andreas Babler and foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger attended the mass at Graz Cathedral yesterday.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres is deeply shocked and saddened by the school shooting and strongly condemns “this senseless act of violence”, his spokesperson said.

Mr Guterres extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the people of Graz and the government of Austria.

He wishes a swift and full recovery to all those injured, spokesperson Stephane Dujarric added.

Austria’s foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said in a post on X that she was deeply shocked by the shooting in Graz and also called the incident “incomprehensible and unbearable”.

“My sympathy and grief go out to the victims and their families. No one can imagine the suffering, as a mother of three children, it breaks my heart,” she said.

Tuesday’s violence appeared to be the deadliest attack in Austria’s postwar history.

Other attacks in the country include when four people were killed in Vienna in 2020 and the suspect, a sympathizer of the Islamic State group, also died in a shooting that stunned the Austrian capital. More than 20 other people, including a police officer, were wounded.

In 2019, a 25-year-old man turned himself into Austrian police after he killed his ex-girlfriend, her family and her new boyfriend in the Alpine resort town of Kitzbuehel.

Almost exactly 10 years ago, on 20 June 2015, a man killed three people and injured more than 30 when he drove through a crowd in downtown Graz with an SUV.

Austria has some of the more liberal gun laws in the European Union.

Traditionally, many in the Alpine region go hunting, and it’s more common to carry a weapon for that purpose than for self-defence.

Some weapons, such as rifles and shotguns that must be reloaded manually after each shot, can be purchased in Austria from the age of 18 without a permit.

Gun dealers only need to check if there’s no weapons ban on the buyer, and the weapon is then added to the central weapons register.

Other weapons, such as repeating shotguns or semi-automatic firearms, are more difficult to acquire — buyers need a gun ownership card and a firearms pass.

Director General of Public Security Franz Ruf told state broadcaster ORF that victims were found outside and inside the school on various floors, adding the gunman had been armed with both a shotgun and a pistol, both found at the scene.

Ruf also told ORF the suspect had left behind a farewell letter, both in analogue and digital form, in which he said goodbye to his parents but gave no indication of a motive, which was still being investigated.