At least 11 people are dead, including the gunman, after a horrific shooting rampage at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz.

Six females and three males were killed at Dreierschützengasse Secondary School, according to Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner on Wednesday morning, Australian time.

Graz University Hospital said a seriously injured adult, a woman, later died of her wounds, taking the number of dead to 10.

A further 12 people were injured, some seriously, according to police.

Karner gave no further details to identify the victims, but Austria’s APA news agency has reported that seven of those killed were pupils.

Police said they assumed the 21-year-old Austrian shooter, a former student who was found dead in a bathroom, was operating alone when he entered the school with two guns and opened fire.

His motive was not yet known.

In video taken at the school and posted to X, loud volleys of gunshots can be heard wringing out at the school, with footage showing students being evacuated by heavily armed police.

“The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country,” Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said, calling it a “dark day in the history of our country”.

“There are no words for the pain and grief that we all – all of Austria – are feeling right now.”

Stocker travelled to Graz, where, alongside other officials including Karner, he announced three days of mourning, with a minute’s silence to be held at 10am on Wednesday.

European Union President Ursula von der Leyen said: “It is difficult to bear when schools become places of death and violence.”

Austrian newspaper Kronen-Zeitung said police had found a farewell note from the shooter during a search of his home.

It did not say what was in the note, and police were not immediately available to comment.

The killings caused shock and consternation in Austria, a usually peaceful country unaccustomed to multiple fatalities of the kind that occurred in Graz, its second-biggest city.

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More than 300 police officers were called to the scene after shots were heard about 10am local time at the school where pupils aged 15 and above attend.

Police and ambulances arrived within minutes and authorities cordoned off the school.

Relatives of the victims and pupils were being cared for, authorities said.

Armed with a pistol and shotgun, the shooter opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his own, the Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper reported.

A police investigation into the motive is ongoing. Photo: AAP

Authorities said he appeared to have legally owned the two weapons.

Police said investigations into a possible motive were ongoing and that they could not yet provide any information.

“Extensive criminal investigations are still required,” a police spokesperson said.

Julia Ebner, an extremism expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think-tank, said the incident appeared to be the worst school shooting in Austria’s postwar history, describing such shootings as rare compared to some countries, including the US.

“I am deeply shaken that young people were torn from their lives so abruptly,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, one of several foreign leaders who expressed shock at the shooting, said in a message to Stocker.

“We hope that their loved ones can find comfort in the company of their families and friends in this dark hour.”

Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 persons, according to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project.

Students and adults are among 10 victims who were killed after a gunman opened fire at a secondary school in the Austrian city of Graz.

Interior minister Gerhard Karner said earlier that a further 12 people were injured in the shooting at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school in Austria’s second-biggest city.

However Mr Karner gave the figure before it was confirmed that a person in hospital with life-threatening injuries had become the 10th person to die. It is not clear if this reduces the number of those injured to 11.

The interior minister also said the suspect was a former pupil of the school who didn’t finish his studies.

Police have said the 21-year-old Austrian gunman was found dead in the toilets of the school after the shootings and was operating alone.

As it happened: 10 killed in Austria school shooting

Authorities say he had two weapons, reported to be a shotgun and a pistol, which he appeared to have owned legally.

Police have said they did not have information about his possible motive.

Meanwhile, investigators have found a farewell letter at the house of the suspect, the Kronen newspaper in Austria reports.

Image: Police officers stand guard near a school following a deadly school shooting in Graz, Austria. Pic: Reuters

Image: A man places a candle at the entrance to the school after the deadly shooting, in Graz, Austria. Pic: AP Photo

Footage shared online revealed how gunshots and screaming could be heard after the gunman entered the school before opening fire.

French education minister Elisabeth Borne has said that one of those who died was a “young fellow citizen” of France.

It came as the mother of a child who survived the shooting retold the distressing moment she received a phone call from her son.

“My son called me to say he was in school and that he was being shot and that he thought he was going to die,” she said.

“I’ve only found out now, two hours later, that he’s still alive.”

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What we know about the shooting so far

Image: A police officer makes a phone call in front of a school building after the shooting. Pic: AP

Image: Police officers at the scene. Pic: AP

Special forces were among those sent to the school, just under a mile from Graz’s historic centre, after a call at 10am local time (9am UK time).

Around an hour and half later, police wrote on X that the school had been evacuated and everyone had been taken to a safe meeting point.

Police deployed in large numbers, with emergency vehicles guarding the area around the school and with at least one police helicopter flying above.

Graz, Austria’s second-biggest city, is located in the southeast of the country and about 300,000 live there.

A ‘dark day’

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said there would be three days of national mourning, with the Austrian flag lowered to half-mast and a national minute of mourning at 10am on Wednesday (9am BST).

He said that it was “a dark day in the history of our country”.

President Alexander Van der Bellen said that “this horror cannot be captured in words”.

“These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way,” he said.

Image: Police officers stand guard near a school following a deadly school shooting in Graz, Austria. Pic: Reuters

Image: Pic: AP

Well-wishers later lit candles and placed them in the main square in Graz city centre on Tuesday night as a tribute to the shooting victims.

People were seen quietly reflecting as the city tried to come to terms with the deadly attack.

The school where the attack took place had earlier posted a message on Instagram following the tragedy.

The message is written in German, the official language of Austria, and translates in English to: “It was a really terrible day that deeply impacted and affected us all.

“Let us continue to stand together as a school community and support one another.

“Your teachers and your principal.”

BOGOTA, Colombia — Seven people, including two police officers, were killed in Colombia on Tuesday, as rebel groups detonated bombs near police stations in the city of Cali and the neighboring Cauca province , Colombia’s National Police said in a statement. Military and police spokespeople blamed the attacks on the FARC-EMC , a group led by former members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia who broke away from the group after it signed a peace deal with the government in 2016.

Authorities said the rebels placed bombs in cars and motorcycles that were parked near police stations, while also waging some attacks with gunfire and grenades. Colombia’s police said there were a total of 24 attacks on Tuesday in the city Cali and the surrounding provinces of Cauca and Valle del Cauca, in which 28 people were also injured, including 19 civilians.

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The attacks on the police stations come just days after Miguel Uribe , a conservative presidential candidate, was shot during a rally in Bogota. Authorities say they are investigating who was behind the attack on Uribe, who is in a critical condition in hospital in Bogota.

Colombia’s government has struggled to contain violence in urban and rural areas as several rebel groups try to take over territory abandoned by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia following its peace deal with the government.

Peace talks between the FARC-EMC faction and the government broke down last year after a series of attacks on indigenous communities.

The government is currently holding talks with another faction of the group, that is led by commander Luis Alberto Alban, known also as Marcos Calarca.

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Summary Former pupil attacked secondary school in Graz

He killed nine, then himself, interior minister says

Graz Hospital later confirms death of 10th victim

Austria to hold three days of mourning

‘No words for the pain and grief,’ says chancellor

GRAZ, Austria, June 10 (Reuters) – A former pupil killed 10 people and himself at a secondary school in Austria’s second city, Graz, on Tuesday in the worst school shooting in Austria’s modern history.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said six of those killed at the school were female and three were male, without giving any details of their ages. Graz Hospital later confirmed the death of a 10th person.

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Karner said another dozen people had been injured but gave no further details about the victims. Austrian media said most were pupils.

Police said they believed the 21-year-old Austrian 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.

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.

Chancellor Christian Stocker called the shooting a “dark day in the history of our country”.

“There are no words for the pain and grief that we all – all of Austria – are feeling right now.”

Item 1 of 17 Police officers stand as children are evacuated from the school, following a deadly school shooting in Graz, Austria, June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic [1/17] Police officers stand as children are evacuated from the school, following a deadly school shooting in Graz, Austria, June 10, 2025. REUTERS/Borut Zivulovic Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab

Stocker travelled to Graz where, at a press conference alongside officials including Karner, he announced three days of national mourning. A minute’s silence was set for 10 a.m. (0800 GMT) on Wednesday.

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.

More than 300 police were called in after shots were heard around 10 a.m. at the school, for pupils of 15 and above. Ambulances also arrived within minutes as the premises were cordoned off.

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.

Julia Ebner, an extremism expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think-tank, said the incident appeared to be the worst school shooting in Austria’s post-war history.

Foreign leaders including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed shock.

Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project.

Four people were killed and 22 injured when a convicted jihadist went on a shooting spree in the centre of Vienna in 2020. In November 1997, a 36-year-old mechanic shot dead six people in the town of Mauterndorf before killing himself.

Reporting by Francois Murphy, Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich, John Revill, Dave Graham, Thomas Seythal, Friederike Heine and Borut Zivulovic; Writing by Timothy Heritage and Gareth Jones; Editing by Peter Graff, Kevin Liffey and Sandra Maler

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GRAZ, Austria — A shooter opened fire inside a school in Austria’s second-biggest city Tuesday, fatally wounding 10 people, authorities said. It appeared to be the deadliest attack in Austria’s postwar history. Many others were wounded in the attack, and the gunman later died by suicide in a bathroom in the school in Graz, officials said.

Details about the suspect’s motive, as well as information about the victims, were not immediately available.

Here’s what we know:

Ten people were killed

The shooter opened fire at a school in Graz, fatally wounding 10 people before taking his own life, authorities said. Authorities earlier said another 12 people were wounded.

Special forces were among those sent to the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, about a kilometer (over half a mile) from Graz’s historic center, after a call at 10 a.m.

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At 11:30 a.m., police wrote on social media that the school had been evacuated and everyone had been taken to a safe meeting point.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said there would be three days of national mourning, with the Austrian flag lowered to half-staff and a national minute of mourning at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

“A school is more than just a place of learning,” Stocker said. “It is a space of trust, of security, of the future. The fact that this safe space was shattered by such an act of violence leaves us speechless.”

Graz, Austria’s second-biggest city, is located in the southeast and has about 300,000 inhabitants.

Gunman was a former student

The gunman was a former student at the school who didn’t finish his studies, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said. His name has not been made public in line with Austrian privacy rules.

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Authorities say he was a 21-year-old Austrian man who had two weapons, which he appeared to have owned legally.

Police said they didn’t immediately have information on the man’s motive, but said he died by suicide in a bathroom after the attack.

Other major attacks in Austria

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 in to Austrian police after he killed his ex-girlfriend, her family and her new boyfriend in the Alpine resort town of Kitzbuehel. And almost exactly 10 years ago, on June 20, 2015, a man killed three people and injured more than 30 when he drove through a crowd in downtown Graz with an SUV.

Gun culture in Austria

Austria has some of the more liberal gun laws in the European Union. Traditionally, many in the Alpine country go hunting, and it’s more common to carry a weapon for that and less for self-defense.

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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.