Former high school student opens fire at an Austrian school, killing 10, injuring 12 & commits suicide

A former student opened fire at a school in Austria’s second-biggest city Tuesday, killing 10 people and wounding 12 others before taking his own life, authorities said.

There was no immediate information on the motive of the 21-year-old man, who had no previous police record. He used two weapons, which he was believed to have owned legally, police said.

“Today is a dark day in the history of our country,” Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker told reporters in Graz, a city of about 300,000 people in southeastern Austria.

He called it “a national tragedy that shocks us deeply” and said there would be three days of national mourning, with the Austrian flag lowered to half-staff at official buildings. A national minute of silence was to be held Wednesday morning in memory of the victims.

Special forces were among those sent to the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, about a kilometer (over half a mile) from Graz’s historic center, after calls at 10 a.m. 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.

The assailant, who acted alone, was a 21-year-old Austrian man who lived near Graz, police said. His name wasn’t released.

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.

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.

Karner said Tuesday afternoon that six of the dead were female and three male, but didn’t give further information. He said 12 people were wounded. The state hospital in Graz later said that a 10th victim, an adult woman, had died of her injuries, the Austria Press Agency reported.

Austria’s Red Cross said it had deployed 65 ambulances to the scene and 158 emergency staffers were helping treat the injured. In addition, 40 specially trained psychologists were counseling students and parents. The Red Cross also called on locals to come forward and donate blood.