Grief and shock in Austria's second metropolis

[ad_1] Bethany Bell BBC Information in Graz

Watch: Austria in shock after faculty capturing in 'secure and peaceable place'

There's shock, unhappiness and disbelief in Graz, after the worst capturing in fashionable Austrian historical past left 11 folks lifeless, together with the gunman.

"We by no means might have imagined that this might have occurred right here, in our place. It is a unhappy day for the entire metropolis," stated Reka, who lives near the college.

For a few years, Austria had been spared the ache of mass faculty shootings.

However that each one modified at about 10:00 on Tuesday when a former pupil ran amok at a secondary faculty within the Dreierschützengasse, near the principle station in Austria's second largest metropolis.

Morning courses had been underneath manner when the assault occurred. Some college students on the faculty would have been taking their remaining exams.

It took police 17 minutes to convey the state of affairs underneath management.

By the point it was over six feminine victims and three males had died. Hours later, a seventh feminine sufferer, an grownup girl, died in hospital. A number of others stay in hospital, some with important accidents.

The gunman, a 21-year-old Austrian citizen with two firearms, took his personal life on the faculty.

A former pupil who by no means handed his remaining exams, he's reported to have seen himself as a sufferer of bullying.

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/9b78/live/649c1fa0-461b-11f0-9942-8ded1e77a695.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/9b78/live/649c1fa0-461b-11f0-9942-8ded1e77a695.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/9b78/live/649c1fa0-461b-11f0-9942-8ded1e77a695.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/9b78/live/649c1fa0-461b-11f0-9942-8ded1e77a695.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/9b78/live/649c1fa0-461b-11f0-9942-8ded1e77a695.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/9b78/live/649c1fa0-461b-11f0-9942-8ded1e77a695.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/9b78/live/649c1fa0-461b-11f0-9942-8ded1e77a695.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/9b78/live/649c1fa0-461b-11f0-9942-8ded1e77a695.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="A woman with red hair and sunglasses looks at the camera" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Reka, who lives close to the college, stated no one in Graz might have imagined such an assault

Native resident Reka advised me she could not perceive how an assault like this might have occurred in her well-ordered metropolis.

"This space is quiet, secure and delightful," she stated. "Persons are good, the college is sweet."

Austria's President Alexander Van der Bellen stated: "This horror can't be put into phrases. What occurred at the moment in a college in Graz, hits our nation proper within the coronary heart. These had been younger individuals who had their complete lives forward of them. A trainer who accompanied them on their manner."

He stated there was "nothing at this second that may alleviate the ache that the mother and father, grandparents, siblings and mates of these murdered are feeling".

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/1acd/live/d1b72f30-461b-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/1acd/live/d1b72f30-461b-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1acd/live/d1b72f30-461b-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/1acd/live/d1b72f30-461b-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/1acd/live/d1b72f30-461b-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/1acd/live/d1b72f30-461b-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/1acd/live/d1b72f30-461b-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/1acd/live/d1b72f30-461b-11f0-9471-e380f647874e.png.webp" loading="lazy" alt="Map of Graz and school" class="sc-d1200759-0 dvfjxj"/> Austria's Chancellor Christian Stocker, who rushed to the scene with the Inside Minister Gerhard Karner, referred to as it "a nationwide tragedy, that had shaken the whole nation." He stated there have been no phrases to explain "the ache and grief that all of us – the entire of Austria – is feeling".

Three days of mourning have been declared in Austria. Flags on the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, the place President van der Bellen has his workplace, will fly at half-mast.

Austria has one of the crucial closely armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 individuals, in line with the Small Arms Survey, an impartial analysis challenge.

However faculty shootings listed here are uncommon. There have been a number of incidents through the years which have concerned far fewer casualties:

In 2018 a 19-year-old was shot by one other youth in Mistelbach, north of ViennaIn 2012 in St Pölten, a pupil was shot lifeless by his fatherIn 1997, in Zöbern, a 15-year-old killed a trainer and critically injured anotherAnd in 1993 a 13-year-old boy in Hausleiten critically injured the pinnacle trainer after which killed himself. Austria's most violent gun assault lately occurred within the coronary heart of Vienna in November 2020. 4 folks had been killed and 22 injured when a convicted jihadist ran by the centre of town opening fireplace, earlier than he was ultimately shot by police.

Machine weapons and pump motion weapons are banned, whereas revolvers, pistols and semi-automatic weapons are allowed solely with official authorisation. Rifles and shotguns are permitted with a firearms licence or a legitimate looking licence, or for members of conventional capturing golf equipment.

The Graz gunman is known to have owned each firearms legally, and he had no felony document. One in all his weapons was purchased solely the day earlier than the assault, in line with one report.

Outdoors the college, a younger man on a bicycle watched because the police allowed safety automobiles by the safety cordon spherical the college.

"It is horrific," he advised me. "That is my dwelling. I am unable to perceive how so many individuals my age are lifeless. This should not occur right here."