Austrian police search for answers after mass shooting in school

Austrian authorities were searching on Wednesday for answers 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, armed with a shotgun and a pistol, acted alone. They are scouring his home and the internet for clues to 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 properly 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. Austrian authorities said the suspect never completed his studies at the school.

He left a farewell note that did not reveal the motive for the attack, police said, adding that a pipe bomb found at his home was not functional.

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 on Tuesday night.

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.

Details of the attack have emerged slowly.

Austrian 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.

Armed with a pistol and shotgun, he opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his own, it said.

'DARK HOUR'

Police were called to the scene at around 10 am after shots were heard at the school. Police and ambulances were on the scene in minutes.

"It is not yet possible to provide any information about the motive. 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 post-war history, describing such shootings as rare compared to some countries including the United States.

"I am deeply shaken that young people were torn from their lives so abruptly," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, one of a number of 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.

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.