Bethany Bell
Graz’s BBC News
Watch: Austria in after-school shock in a “safe and peaceful place”
Glaz has shock, sadness and distrust. The worst shooting in modern Austrian history has killed 11 people, including gunmen.
“We could not have imagined this happening here at our place. It’s a sad day for the whole city,” said Lekha, who lives near the school.
For many years, Austria has survived the pain of shootings at large schools.
But it all changed around 10am on Tuesday, when former students ran at Dreierschutzgus Secondary School, near Austria’s second largest city’s main station.
Morning classes were ongoing when the attack took place. Some students at the school would have taken the final exam.
It took me 17 minutes to control the situation.
More than six female victims and three men died. A few hours later, the seventh woman’s victim, an adult woman, died in the hospital. Some others remain in the hospital, some have been seriously injured.
The 21-year-old Austrian citizen, the gunman with two firearms, took his life at school.
A former student who never passed his final exam is reported to have seen himself as a victim of bullying.
Rekha, who lives near the school, said no one in Glaz could imagine such an attack.
Local residents Rekha said she couldn’t understand how such an attack happened in a city where she was in order.
“The area is quiet, safe and beautiful,” she said. “People are good, school is good.”
Austrian President Alexander van der Belen said: “This fear cannot be put into words. What happened at the school in Glaz today strikes our nation in our minds. These were young people who spent their whole life before them.
He said, “There is nothing that can reduce the pain that parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of those murdered now feel.”
Austrian Prime Minister Christian Stocker rushed to the scene with Interior Minister Gerhard Kerner, calling it “a tragedy of the people who shook the whole country.” He said there was no word to describe “the pain and sadness that all of us feel throughout Austria.”
Three days of mourning has been declared in Austria. The flag of the Hofberg Palace in Vienna, where President Van der Belen holds his office, will fly at the half-mast.
According to the independent research project, Small Arms Survey, Austria is one of Europe’s most armed civilians, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 people.
However, school shootings here are rare. Over the years, there have been several incidents where the number of casualties has fallen much less.
In 2018, he was shot dead by another 19-year-old Mistelbach young man.
In recent years, Austria’s most violent gun attack took place in central Vienna in November 2020. Four people were killed and 22 injured as convicted jihadists ran through the city centre before the police were eventually shot dead.
Machine guns and pump action guns are prohibited, but revolvers, pistols and semi-automatic weapons are permitted with official approval only. Rifles and shotguns are permitted to have firearm licenses or valid hunting licenses, or members of traditional shooting clubs.
The Gruz gunman was understood to be legally owning both firearms and had no criminal history. According to one report, one of his guns was only purchased the day before the attack.
Outside the school, a young man on a bicycle saw police allow security vehicles around the school through security guards.
“That’s horrible,” he told me. “This is my home. I don’t understand how many people are dead at my age. This should not happen here.”
