The 21-year-old shooter kills ten people at an Austrian school before killing himself

In Austria’s bloodiest school shooting, a 21-year-old man killed ten people in addition to himself.

Austria has entered a state of mourning after the bloodiest school massacre in recent history. In Graz, the second-largest city in Austria, a 21-year-old man broke into a secondary school on Tuesday morning, shot ten people dead, and then turned the gun on himself.

Three men and six women were among the victims, according to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, who verified the devastating death toll. The attack badly injured a tenth victim, who Graz Hospital subsequently declared dead. Officials have not yet disclosed all the details of the injuries suffered by the other 12 people, many of whom were students.

The attacker, whose name has not yet been made public, was found dead in a restroom at a school. Around ten in the morning, he allegedly went inside the school by himself with two guns—a shotgun and a pistol—and started shooting in several classes. According to Salzburger Nachrichten and other local media reports, he may have previously attended one of the classrooms. He might have experienced bullying while attending the school, according to the same article.

Speaking alongside other high-ranking officials, including Minister Karner, at a press conference in Graz, Chancellor Christian Stocker referred to the incident as “a dark day in the history of our country.” As Stocker put it, “There are no words for the pain and grief that we all – all of Austria – are feeling right now.” The government has proclaimed three days of national mourning, and on Wednesday at 10 a.m., there will be a minute’s silence.

When there were reports of shooting, more than 300 police officers quickly arrived on the scene. Within minutes, ambulances and emergency personnel were on the site, and the school was roped off.

The contents of a farewell message found at the shooter’s residence have not been made public, according to the Austrian publication Kronen-Zeitung. Police are still looking into a motive, and although preliminary reports indicate the shooter was acting alone, the whole situation is yet unknown.

According to Julia Ebner, an extremism researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the act is the bloodiest school shooting in Austria’s post-war history. According to the Small Arms Survey, Austria’s civilian population is among the most heavily armed in Europe, with an estimated 30 weapons per 100 inhabitants.

The world has expressed shock and sympathy at the tragedy, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is among the global leaders who have offered their condolences.

This horrific event comes after other infrequent but fatal incidents in Austria, like as a jihadist shooting in Vienna in 2020 that claimed four lives and a mass shooting in Mauterndorf in 1997 that left six people dead after a lone shooter.

Austria is still dealing with the fallout from a tragedy that has rocked its schools, people, and sense of security to their very core as investigations continue.