Austria mourns the victims of one of the worst attacks

Austria mourns the victims of one of the worst attacks

Police in Austria are searching for clues on Wednesday after a gunman opened fire at his former school in Graz the day before, killing nine students and a teacher. This shocking act has left the country in a state of mourning.

Mourning for the victims

Numerous people gathered at the crime scene to observe a minute's silence 24 hours after the rampage. The city of Graz, the capital of the southern Austrian province of Styria, has experienced the most serious consequences of one of the worst school shootings in the country's history.

Investigations into the perpetrator's family

Authorities confirmed they had searched the home of the 21-year-old Austrian perpetrator. Graz police spokesman Sabri Yorgun informed CNN that an inoperable homemade bomb, a suicide note and a video message were found during the search. “We searched the suspect’s home address from the Graz district and were able to determine that there was a suicide note both in digital form and in handwritten form,” Yorgun said in an interview.

The number of victims is rising

Of the ten fatalities, nine were students between the ages of 15 and 17. One victim was found dead when emergency responders arrived Tuesday morning. The bodies of the other students and several injured children were discovered in the building. The tenth person to die in hospital on Tuesday evening was a female teacher, Yorgun confirmed.

International reactions

François Barrot, the French foreign minister, said one of the victims was a French student. “Our condolences and condolences go out to his family and friends,” Barrot said.

Health status of the injured

All those injured in Tuesday's attack are now stable. Nine of them remain in intensive care. One victim with facial injuries requires revision surgery, while another requires knee surgery.

Background of the attack

Police were called at around 10 a.m. local time (4 a.m. ET) to reports of “multiple” shots fired at the school in Graz. A large number of vehicles and a police helicopter were immediately deployed. The perpetrator, who had previously attended school but not graduated, used both a rifle and a handgun in his bloody act before taking his own life in a bathroom, authorities said at a news conference.

Gun violence in Austria

Gun violence is rare in Austria, as well as in most Central European countries. According to the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the firearm homicide rate in 2021 was just 0.1 per 100,000 people, compared to 4.5 per 100,000 people in the United States. However, the gun ownership rate in Austria is higher than in most European countries; According to the Small Arms Survey, there are 30 civilian firearms per 100 citizens.

Similar incidents in the past

A few high-profile violent incidents have been recorded in Austria in recent years. In October last year, the mayor of a northern Austrian city was shot dead, as was another victim. In February, a 23-year-old stabbed five passers-by in southern Austria in what police classified as a random attack.

CNN's coverage of this incident was assisted by Rob Picheta, Lauren Kent and Saskya Vandoorne.