Gunman kills 9 in a mass shooting at a school in Austria

toggle caption Erwin Scheriau/AFP via Getty Images

BERLIN — A gunman killed nine people Tuesday morning after opening fire at a school in the southern Austrian city of Graz. Police say the shooter is also dead, in what they believe was a suicide.

Police first responded to reports of gunfire at 10 a.m. local time at the Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Dreierschützengasse, a secondary school in the northwest of the city. They later found that the gunman had shot and killed nine people and injured 12 others.

Among the dead were six female and three male victims, police said, but they did not specify the ages of the dead or how many were students or teachers.

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Minutes after the shooting started, police arrived and evacuated the school. In all, 300 police officers were at the scene as well as 160 paramedics.

Police say they later found the suspected shooter, a 21-year-old man who was a former student at the school, dead from an apparent self-inflicted gun wound in a school restroom. They say the shooter acted alone and that he brought two guns with him to the school — a rifle and a handgun.

They did not release the suspect’s name or any other details about him, only saying that he was not known to police and that he possessed a license for the guns.

“There are no words to describe the pain, the disbelief and the grief that all of Austria feels right now,” said Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker at an afternoon press conference in Graz. “Our country has fallen silent in horror.”

Stocker called for three days of national mourning in a country where mass shootings are exceedingly rare.

Austria, with a population of 9 million, has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 people. Machine guns and pump action guns are banned, but the ownership of revolvers, pistols and even semi-automatic weapons is allowed as long as applicants go through a permitting and licensing process.

At least 11 people have died in Austria’s deadliest mass shooting in the country’s second-largest city.

A shooter opened fire at a high school in Austria’s second most populous city, Graz, on Tuesday. At least 11 people have died, including the suspect, according to the city’s mayor and police.

The attack on Tuesday represents the Central European nation’s deadliest mass shooting outside of wars.

Here is what we know so far:

What happened — and where?

The shooting occurred in the morning at the BORG Dreierschutzengasse secondary school in Graz, the capital of the southern Austrian province of Styria.

Police were called to the school at around 10am (08:00 GMT) after shots were heard there.

Graz is about 200km (124 miles) southwest of Vienna and is home to historic landmarks like the Uhrturm, or Clock Tower, on the Schlossberg hill. The city of more than 300,000 people is the second most populous in the country after Vienna.

Known for its universities and colleges, Graz is a demographically diverse city. Foreign nationals make up a quarter of its population, with Croatians, Romanians, Germans and Bosnians the four largest groups, according to the city administration, as of January.

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What do we know about the victims?

At least 11 people have been killed, the Austrian news agency APA quoted Graz Mayor Elke Kahr as saying.

The police and Kahr independently confirmed that the suspect was among the dead.

Kahr said that there were at least seven students and two adults among the victims.

Police said at least 30 people were injured.

What do we know about the shooter?

Austrian news media identified the suspect as a 21-year-old former student. The newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten said he had been a victim of bullying.

The shooter reportedly carried a pistol and a shotgun and opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his classroom.

APA and Kronen Zeitung, Austria’s largest newspaper, separately reported that the suspect was found dead in a bathroom.

The local police wrote in an X post that they were operating on the assumption that the perpetrator was acting alone.

What are the authorities saying?

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker described the attack as a “national tragedy” in a statement posted on X.

“The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country,” he wrote. “There are no words for the pain and grief that we all – all of Austria – are feeling right now.”

Stocker announced on Tuesday that Austria will hold three days of mourning in the wake of the incident.

President Alexander Van der Bellen also released a statement on X, saying: “These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their journey. There is nothing that can ease the pain felt by the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of the murdered people at this moment.”

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What is the latest on the ground?

The police wrote that a police operation was under way at the scene.

The local police wrote on X: “The school was evacuated and all persons were taken to a safe meeting point” at 11:31am (09:31 GMT) on Tuesday. They added that officers had secured the school and they did not anticipate any further danger for anyone.

The police added that authorities had earmarked ASKO Stadium, home of local football club ESK Graz, as the designated meeting point for parents of students at the school. A police helicopter, officials said, was being used in the rescue operation.

Earlier, ambulances were seen outside the school.

What are the reactions to the incident?

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote in an X post: “Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Austrian people in this dark moment.”

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen wrote in an X post: “Schools are symbols of youth, hope, and the future. It’s hard to bear when schools become places of death and violence.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on X: “Schools should never become places of violence. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and the people of Austria.”

Have there been shootings in Austria in the past?

Yes.

Mass shootings in Austria date back to at least 1981 when a machine gun and grenade attack killed two people and injured 30 at a synagogue. The attack targeted people leaving a bar mitzvah ceremony. In 1982, two Palestinian men born in Jordan and Iraq were sentenced to life imprisonment for that attack.

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In 2013, an alleged deer poacher shot dead three policemen and an ambulance driver while being chased by the police near the Austrian town of Annaburg. The perpetrator was identified as Alois Huber.

In 2016, a gunman opened fire at a concert in the town of Nenzing, killing two people and fatally shooting himself. Eleven people were injured. The shooter, Gregor Schallert, had been involved in a heated argument with his girlfriend before he opened fire, according to local reports.

In 2020, four people were killed and 23 were injured in a shooting in Vienna hours before the capital was to enter lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. The gunman was shot dead by the police. Authorities described the shooter as a sympathiser of the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

How common is gun ownership in Austria?

Gun ownership is common in Austria, with about 30 firearms per 100 people, according to the independent research project Small Arms Survey. This makes Austrians one of the most heavily armed populations in Europe.

“People here have been saying that this is something that we used to watch on television, in places like the United States of America, Germany, or France,” Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra said, reporting from Graz. “And that they never imagined that something like this could happen right here, in their country.”

Machine guns and pump-action guns are banned in Austria.

Official authorisation is required to own revolvers, pistols and semiautomatic weapons. To own rifles and shotguns, Austrians require a firearms licence, a valid hunting licence or a membership at traditional shooting clubs.

CNN —

A shooter opened fire at a high school in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, killing 10 people, including teenagers, in one of the worst rampages in the country’s history.

Austrian police and hospital officials confirmed the fatalities, raising the death toll from an earlier figure of nine. The country’s interior ministry told CNN that the victims included children between 14 and 18 years old.

Interior minister Gerhard Karner said at a news conference that six victims were female and three were male. Twelve students were injured in the incident, some of them seriously, Karner added. Graz University Hospital later said one of the seriously injured adults died on Tuesday evening.

The suspect – a 21-year-old Austrian male who had previously attended the school but not graduated – used two weapons, a shotgun and a pistol, to carry out the killing spree, before fatally shooting himself in a bathroom, authorities said at the news conference.

Officials would not give a motive for the gunman, who they say acted alone. Police believe he obtained the weapons he used legally. The weapons were seized at the scene and subject to forensic examinations. Officers are also continuing to conduct interviews as they investigate the circumstances of the incident, police added.

The shooting pitched Austria into a state of shock and disbelief. Chancellor Christian Stocker announced three days of national mourning, writing on X: “There are no words for the pain and grief.”

Police officers in a street close to the school on June 10. Erwin Scheriau/APA/AFP/Getty Images

A police helicopter in the air close where the incident took place. Erwin Scheriau/APA/AFP/Getty Images

Officers first responded to the reports of “several” suspected gunshots at the Bundesoberstufenrealgymnasium Dreierschützengasse school in the northwest of Graz at around 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET).

Several vehicles and a police helicopter were deployed to the site. The school was evacuated and the area was secured, with no further danger expected, the police said on social media. Police said later in a statement that special forces were also deployed to the scene.

Stocker expressed horror at the shooting, saying: “The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country. This inconceivable act suddenly tore young people from the life they still had ahead of them.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said: “It is difficult to bear when schools become places of death and violence.”

Several vigils for the victims are taking place on Tuesday evening in Graz, including one coordinated by local youth organizations. Hundreds gathered in Graz’s central square, but despite the large crowd of mourners, the Hauptplatz was nearly silent.

Gun violence is rare in Austria, along with most central European countries. The country’s rate of firearm homicides was just 0.1 per 100,000 people in 2021, according to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, compared to 4.5 per 100,000 people in the United States.

But Austria’s gun ownership is higher than most European Union countries; there are 30 civilian firearms owned for every 100 citizens, according to the Small Arms Survey, a research institute based in Switzerland.

A small number of high-profile violent incidents have taken place there in recent years. Last October, the mayor of a northern Austrian town was shot dead, along with another victim.

In February, a 23-year-old man stabbed five passersby in southern Austria in what police said was a random attack.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

SCHOOL MASSACRE Austria shooting LIVE: Pupils ‘pretended to be dead’ to escape ex-student, 21, who killed 10 as cops find ‘suicide note’

PUPILS pretended to be dead in a desperate bid to escape a “bullied” former student who opened fire and killed ten at a school in Austria.

Terrifying footage shows pupils fleeing the 21-year-old male shooter as he went on the deadly rampage before turning the gun on himself.

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4 Policemen are seen on a street close to the school Credit: AFP

4 Paramedics are seen on the street after multiple people were killed Credit: AFP

4 Family members reunite following the deadly school shooting in Graz Credit: Reuters

4 BORG Dreierschützengasse in Graz, where the shooting took place Credit: Google maps

The ten victims include six girls, three boys and one woman, local police officers confirmed. The shooter was also reported dead.

Another 11 are seriously injured and in hospital receiving treatment, with up to 30 said to be wounded in total.

Horrifying video shows pupils hiding in a classroom as gunshots ring out nearby.

Other clips show students running for their lives as heavily armed cops make their way inside the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school.

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A dad told local media that one of his sons lay down on the floor and pretended to be dead to escape gunfire.

The shooter was an ex-pupil who didn’t graduate and is said to have been a victim of bullying during his time at the school, reports say.

He is said to have been carrying two legally owned weapons – a Glock pistol and a shotgun at the time.

The lone shooter was found dead in a bathroom after turning the gun on himself, the Austrian interior minister confirmed.

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He was not known to police, and a motive is yet to be confirmed.

Investigators found a letter, understood to be a suicide note, from his house in the wider Graz region, Austria’s Kronen newspaper reported.

The Austrian government has now declared a three-day mourning period.

A massive police operation in Graz was launched shortly after 10am this morning when the first gunshot was heard.

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Troops from the Austrian special forces were seen storming the institution in the country’s second biggest city.

In total, over 300 police officers were deployed to secure the school grounds.

Authorities issued a disaster alert to local hospitals, and wounded students are being taken to a nearby concert stadium.

Follow our live blog below for all the latest updates…

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GRAZ, Austria — A former student armed with two firearms opened fire Tuesday morning at a high school in Graz, Austria, killing nine people before taking his own life, The New York Times reports.

Authorities responded to emergency calls around 10 a.m. local time at BORG Dreierschützengasse, a school located in the northwest section of Austria’s second-largest city. More than 300 police officers and 160 emergency medical responders swarmed the campus, including elite COBRA tactical units and helicopter support, according to the New York Times.

The gunman, identified as a 21-year-old from Graz who had previously attended the school but never graduated, was found dead by suicide in a school bathroom, police said. He had entered the building with a pistol and a longer firearm, both of which were recovered at the scene. The weapons had been purchased legally, authorities said.

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Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner confirmed during a press conference that nine people — six females and three males — were killed. Another 12 individuals were injured in the attack. Police have not released the identities or ages of the victims, nor have they confirmed how many were students, citing the ongoing investigation.

“This shooting rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country,” Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said on social media. He later called it “a dark day” in Austrian history during a televised press statement.

In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, survivors were escorted to the Helmut List Hall, an events venue repurposed for emergency care, NBC News reports. A nearby football stadium served as a reunification site for students and their families. Police urged the public to avoid the area and established a digital platform for witnesses to upload photos and videos to aid investigators.

Mass shootings remain rare in Austria. Between 2000 and 2022, only two such incidents were recorded, according to research from the Rockefeller Institute of Government. Graz, a university city of about 300,000 residents, had last experienced mass violence a decade ago, when a man drove his vehicle into a crowd and then began stabbing bystanders, killing three.