A gunman who killed 10 people at a school in Austria left a suicide note with last words for his parents. The 21-year-old also wounded a dozen people before taking his own life, according to the authorities in Austria’s second largest city of Graz. Franz Ruf, Director General for Public Security, told Austrian TV channel ORF2 that the suicide note had been found during a search of the man’s home.
Austrian police confirmed on Wednesday (June 11) that a suicide note and a “non-functional” pipe bomb were found during a search of the perpetrator’s home. According to reports, the note didn’t provide a clue as to the man’s motive, but contained the suspect’s farewell to his parents. Police said he had no previous record and used two weapons, which he was believed to have owned legally.
Special forces were among those sent to the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school after calls at 10am local time reporting shots at the building.
More than 300 police officers were sent to the school, which was evacuated. Footage from the scene showed students filing out quickly past armed officers.
Police said security was restored in 17 minutes. The shooter acted alone and lived near Graz, according to the police. His name hasn’t been released yet.
Regional police chief Gerald Ortner said two firearms — a long gun and a handgun — were used in the shooting and recovered from the scene, and that the assailant was apparently legally in possession of them. The man took his own life in a bathroom.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker told reporters: “Today is a dark day in the history of our country.” He declared three days of national mourning.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the gunman had been a student at the school and hadn’t completed his studies. He didn’t specify when the man left the school or at what age.
Mr Karner said on Tuesday afternoon that six of the dead were female and three male, but he didn’t give further information. He said 12 people were wounded.
The state hospital in Graz later said that a tenth victim, an adult woman, had died of her injuries, the Austria Press Agency reported.
Austria’s Red Cross said it deployed 65 ambulances to the scene and 158 paramedics treated the injured. In addition, 40 specially trained psychologists were counselling students and parents. The Red Cross also called on locals to come forward and donate blood.
Metin Özden was in his kebab shop near the school when he first heard police cars speeding past, and then a police helicopter above.
He told the Krone newspaper: “I knew something bad had happened… I’ve never seen so many emergency services in my entire life.”
Mr Özden told the same publication he saw parents walking past his restaurant and crying on the way to the school.
The violence on Tuesday (June 10) appeared to be the deadliest attack in Austria’s post-World War II history.
Four people were killed in Vienna in 2020. The suspect, a sympathiser of the Islamic State terror group, also died in a shooting. More than 20 other people, including a police officer, were wounded.
A man killed three people and injured more than 30 in June 2015 when he drove through a crowd in the centre of Graz in an SUV.
Austria has a strong tradition of hunting and some of the most liberal gun laws in the European Union. Some weapons, such as rifles and shotguns that must be reloaded manually after each shot, can be bought 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 recorded on a central weapons register.
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