Gunman opens fire in Austrian school, killing nine and throwing country into shock

A shooter opened fire at a high school in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, killing nine people, including teenagers, in one of the worst rampages in the country’s history.

Austrian police confirmed the fatalities, raising the death toll from an earlier figure of eight. The country’s interior ministry told CNN that the victims included children between 14 and 18 years old.

Interior minister Gerhard Karner said at a news conference that of the nine victims, six were female and three were male. Twelve students were injured in the incident, some of them seriously, Karner added.

The suspect – a 21-year-old Austrian male who had previously attended the school but not graduated – used two weapons, a rifle and a handgun, to carry out the killing spree, before fatally shooting himself in a bathroom, authorities said at the news conference.

Officials would not give a motive for the gunman, who they say acted alone. Police believe he obtained the weapons he used legally.

The shooting pitched Austria into a state of shock and disbelief. Gun violence is rare in central Europe, and Monday was one of the darkest days in the country’s recent past. Chancellor Christian Stocker announced three days of national mourning, writing on X: “There are no words for the pain and grief.”

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said: “It is difficult to bear when schools become places of death and violence.”

Credit: cnn.com

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