GRAZ – Austria fell silent for a minute on Wednesday in reminiscence of the ten folks killed in a school shooting in Graz, which ended with the gunman taking his personal life. The person’s motive remained unclear.
Austria has declared three days of nationwide mourning following what seems to be the deadliest assault in its post-World Conflict II historical past. At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, marking the second a day earlier when police had been alerted to photographs on the faculty, the nation stopped for a minute of silence.
Tons of of individuals lined the central sq. in Graz, Austria’s second-biggest metropolis. Some laid extra candles and flowers in entrance of the town corridor, including to a rising memorial to the victims. The primary candles had been laid on Tuesday night as a crowd gathered on the sq., some folks hugging one another as they tried to return to phrases with the tragedy.
Within the capital, Vienna, the native transport authority had trams, subway trains and buses cease for a minute.
Police stated they discovered a farewell letter and a non-functional pipe bomb after they searched the house of the assailant.
The 21-year-old Austrian man lived close to Graz and was a former pupil on the BORG Dreierschützengasse highschool who hadn’t accomplished his research. Police have stated that he used two weapons, a shotgun and a handgun, which he appeared to have owned legally.
Police didn’t elaborate on investigators’ findings in a short put up on social community X. However a senior official who acknowledged that the letter had been discovered on Tuesday evening stated it hadn’t allowed them to attract conclusions.
“A farewell letter in analog and digital type was discovered,” Franz Ruf, the general public safety director at Austria’s Inside Ministry, advised ORF public tv. “He says goodbye to his dad and mom. However no motive could be inferred from the farewell letter, and that could be a matter for additional investigations.”
Requested whether or not the assailant had attacked victims randomly or focused them particularly, Ruf stated that can be beneath investigation and he didn’t need to speculate.
He stated that wounded folks had been discovered on numerous ranges of the varsity and, in a single case, in entrance of the constructing.
By Wednesday morning, the authority that runs hospitals in Graz stated that every one sufferers had been in secure situation. 9 had been nonetheless in intensive care items, with one needing an additional operation on a facial wound and a second on a knee damage, whereas one other two had been moved to common wards.
Tons of of individuals joined Austrian officers at a service Tuesday night within the Graz cathedral.
“For me that is vital as a result of I’m a instructor myself,” stated Stephanie Klamminger-Brünner, 45. “It shocks me lots {that a} faculty in my hometown is affected by such a horrible occasion. I’m right here out of solidarity with the academics and college students.”
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Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
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