What we know about Graz mass shooting

The students were seated in their classrooms in a secondary school in Graz when a 21 -year -old Austria killed nine people before committing suicide.

Twelve people were injured during Tuesday morning violence, a person dying a few hours later at the hospital after their injuries.

The incident was the deadliest mass shooting in Austria’s recent history and the country said three days of mourning.

Police are still investigating the reasons why the shooter – a former student who did not graduate – led the attack.

Here is what we know so far.

The first shot echoed in the secondary school in Dreierschützengasse, in the northwest of Graz, near the main station, around 10:00 am local (9:00 am BST), initially causing confusion on what was going on.

“Was it a blow? It can’t be true. Something must have come across the construction site on the other side of the street,” a 17-year-old student, identified as F, to his friends, according to the newspaper Kleine Zeitung.

A student told Die Press that when shots were sounded, his teacher immediately locked the classroom.

Another student told the newspaper that at the beginning, she thought that the shots were firecrackers, but “then there were cries, and we ran”.

Local resident Astrid, who lives in a building next to the school, told the BBC that she had heard 30 or 40 shots. Her husband Franz called the police.

“We saw a student at the window – it seemed to be preparing to jump … But then he returned inside,” said Franz.

The couple later saw that the students had “left the school on the ground floor, on the other side” where they “gathered in the street,” said Franz.

The shooter committed suicide in a school bathroom shortly after the attack on firearms, the authorities said.

Police controlled the situation in 17 minutes. More than 300 police officers, including a Cobra specialized tactical unit which manages attacks and hostage situations, were deployed at school.

Six women and three men were killed during the attack, and a seventh woman died later in the hospital. The APA news agency of Austria reported that seven of the students were students.

The victims have not yet been appointed by the authorities.

Wednesday, a woman, Tores, told BBC News on the main place of Graz that she knew one of the deceased boys. He was 17 years old.

“I have known this family for a long time, including the family’s son, and I knew he frequented this school. I immediately sounded, to ask if everything is fine. Then, they let me know at noon, that the boy was one of those massacred,” she said.

“What happened yesterday is completely horrible, all of Austria is in mourning,” she said. “It’s terrible for all of Austria.”

The people who had been injured were in stable state on Wednesday, the Austrian media reported.

The 21 -year -old, who has not yet been appointed, was an Austria of the Graz region in the broad sense that acted alone, police said.

He was a former Dreierschützengasse student who had not graduated from school, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, in a statement, police said they had found a “farewell letter” and a non -functional pipe bomb during a search of the suspect’s home. The authorities have not confirmed the motive of the shooter.

Current information suggests that the shooter legally owned the two guns used in the attack and had a firearm license, police added.

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

The machine guns and pumping action cannons are prohibited, while revolvers, pistols and semi-automatic weapons are only authorized with official authorization. Rifles and hunting rifles are authorized with a firearm license or a valid hunting permit, or for members of traditional shooting clubs.

School shots are rare. There have been a few incidents over the years that have involved far fewer victims:

• In 2018, a 19 -year -old was killed by another young man from Mertelbach, north of Vienna
• In 2012 in St Pölten, a student was killed by his father
• In 1997, in Zöbern, a 15 -year -old killed a teacher and seriously injured another
• In 1993, a 13 -year -old boy in Hausleiten seriously injured the chief and committed suicide

The most violent gun attack in Austria in recent years has taken place in the heart of Vienna in November 2020. Four people were killed and 22 injured when a jihadist sentenced crossed the center of the city’s opening fire, before he was finally shot by the police.

Fanny Gasser, journalist of the Austrian daily Kronen Zeitung, told BBC News that the school was probably not prepared for the possibility of an attack.

“We do not live in America, we live in Austria, which seems to be a very safe space.”