XPost: alt.politics.media, alt.society.mental-health, sac.politics
XPost: alt.killers.mass, talk.politics.guns

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ced27g4e6xwo

Ten people have been killed in a school shooting in the Austrian city of
Graz, in what is the deadliest gun attack in the country's recent history.

Police said the 21-year-old gunman, a former student, took his own life in
a school bathroom shortly after.

The incident took place at Dreierschützengasse secondary school in the north-west of the city.

Six females and three males were killed in the attack, according to
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner. A further 12 people were injured, some seriously, according to police.

Later on Tuesday, local media reported an injured female had died in
hospital, bringing the number of victims killed to 10.

Gunman was former student
The gunman, who has not yet been named, was a former Dreierschützengasse student who didn't graduate from the school, Karner told a news conference
on Tuesday afternoon.

There has been a lot of speculation about the case, Karner noted, adding
it is now the job of the criminal office to investigate.

In the same conference, police said the gunman's motive was still under investigation.

Officers also confirmed the gunman was not known to police before the
attack.

Current information suggests the shooter legally owned the two guns used
in the attack and had a firearms licence, police added.

Local media outlets have reported the suspect used a pistol and a shotgun
to carry out the shooting.

He was an Austrian man from the wider Graz region who acted alone, police
said.

Three days of mourning
Three days of mourning have been declared in Austria, and a nationwide
minute's silence will be held on Wednesday at 10:00am local time in memory
of the victims.

Flags on the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, where the President Alexander Van
der Bellen has his office, will fly at half mast.

The school where the attack took place will remain closed until further
notice, according to Austria's Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr.

The Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said Tuesday was a "dark day in
[the] history of our country" and declared the shooting a "national
tragedy".

"A school is more than just a place to learn - it is a space for trust,
for feeling comfortable and for having a future," he told the conference, adding this safe place had been "violated".

"In these difficult hours, being human is our strongest point," he said.

Austria's APA news agency has reported that seven of those killed were
pupils.

The attack "strikes our country right at its heart", Stocker said in the immediate aftermath.

"These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them."

Gunshots heard inside school
Police said they began an operation at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST) after gunshots were heard from inside the school.

A specialist Cobra tactical unit - which handles attacks and hostage
situations - was deployed to the school, police said.

Authorities evacuated all pupils and teachers from the building. Police confirmed the school had been secured and there was no further danger
posed to members of the public.

"Locally, we have seen people crying on the streets, talking to friends
that have been at the school when the shooting happened, who have maybe
lost a friend," said Fanny Gasser, a journalist for the Austrian daily newspaper Kronen Zeitung.

She told BBC News "everybody knows somebody" at the school because Graz - despite being the second-largest city in Austria - is "not that big".

She said the school was likely unprepared for the possibility of an
attack. "We are not living in America, we are living in Austria, which
seems like a very safe space."

Local mayor Elke Kahr called the incident a "terrible tragedy".

European Commission Vice-President Kaja Kallas said she was "deeply
shocked" by the news. "Every child should feel safe at school and be able
to learn free from fear and violence," she posted on X.

Queues to give blood
By Tuesday afternoon, long queues had formed outside a blood donation
centre in Graz.

"Today is a hard day for all of us in Graz. I'm hear to [donate] my blood
to help other people who need it," 25-year-old Stephanie Koenig told
Reuters news agency.

"Today I'm here because I wanted to do something. I felt helpless with the news," Johanna, 30, said.

Another person standing in line told Reuters giving blood felt like the
"only way possible to help".

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the country's recent
history.

In 2020, jihadist gunman Kujtim Fejzulai shot four people dead and wounded
23 others on a rampage through Vienna's busy nightlife district.

Meanwhile, in 2016, a gunman opened fire at a concert in the town of
Nenzing, killing two people before shooting himself dead. Eleven other
people were injured in the attack.


--
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)