Ten people were killed in a mass shooting in a high school in Graz, Austria on Tuesday. Police said the gunman, a former student, was also found dead from an apparent suicide.
This is the deadliest attack in Austrian history and one of the deadliest school shootings in Europe.
Austrian Prime Minister Christian Stocker called the shooting a “national tragedy” and declared it a three-day mourning.
what happened?
Officials said the 21-year-old gunman opened fire in Borg Dreierschützengasse on Tuesday morning, a former student. He was found dead in the school bathroom. Police have not released the suspect’s name yet.
Police said they received reports of the shooting at around 10 a.m. Tuesday and responded with heavy forces. The special training cobra unit – the Austrian version of the SWAT team – arrived at the scene like a police helicopter. More than 300 officers responded.
The school was evacuated early in the morning and students were taken to a nearby stadium.
Schools in Austria were closed on Monday due to the Pentecost holiday, so after a long weekend, students had just returned to classes.
What did the suspect and the victim know?
Austrian officials said six of the people killed on campus were women and three of them were men. Another victim, a woman, later died in the hospital. Authorities said they will not release more information about the victims until the preliminary investigation is completed.
Police said the gunman went to school but did not graduate. He got there Tuesday with a pistol and longer weapons. Police did not clarify whether it was a shotgun or a rifle. Officials said he legally obtained the weapon.
How rare are mass shootings in Austria?
According to a 2024 analysis, Austria conducted two mass shootings in Austria.
Graz, the second largest city in Austria after its capital Vienna Drive the car into the crowd and attack the bystanders with a knife. Three people were killed.
Austria has also suffered from terrorism-related violence in the past few years.
In 2024, security officials foiled a plot to attack people at a Taylor Swift concert in Vienna. In 2020, a gunman killed four people in Vienna and injured 23 people. The man had been arrested previously on suspicion of joining ISIS.
Are guns common in Austria?
Austrian civilians are one of the heaviest armed personnel in the world, according to estimates from a research group’s small arms survey in Geneva in 2017.
Data shows that at that time, Austria ranked 12th in the world’s gun support. According to the investigation, Austrians possess about 2.6 million shots, about 30 shots per 100 civilians. The survey showed that there were about 120.5 shots per 100 people.
Aaron Karp, senior adviser to the Small Arms Investigation, said in a telephone interview that as of early 2023, there were 1.4 million registered guns in Austria and cited data provided by the Austrian government.
Mr. Cap said: “In many ways, Austria is very lucky.”
Austria bans the use of pumped shotguns, with a population of 9.2 million. And it requires official authorization to legally purchase pistols, semi-automatic guns or repeat shotguns. Austrians must be at least 21 years of age to legally buy most pistols or semi-automatic weapons, Karp said.
