10 killed in attack at Austrian school, including shooter

Nine people were killed in a shooting at a school in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, and the suspected perpetrator also died, authorities said.

Police said at an afternoon news conference that the suspect, a 21-year-old Austrian native, killed himself in a bathroom at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school. Police said they did not yet have any motive for the attack, though they said he had formerly attended the school.

Two guns were found at the scene, they said. 

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said there were six female victims and three male victims, though officials said they weren’t yet prepared to say how many were students or faculty. 

At least 12 other people were wounded, some seriously.

The government said there would be three days of national mourning.

“The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country,” Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker said in a statement.

“There are no words for the pain and grief that we all — all of Austria — are feeling right now,” he added.

Police declare area secure after 90 minutes

Special forces were among those sent to the BORG Dreierschützengasse after a call at 10 a.m. local time.

At 11.30 a.m. local time, police wrote on social network X that the school had been evacuated and everyone had been taken to a safe meeting point. They wrote that the situation was “secured” and there is no longer believed to be any danger.

Graz, Austria’s second-largest city, is located in the southeast of the country and has about 300,000 inhabitants.

In Brussels, the European Union offered condolences.

“Schools are symbols for youth, hope and the future,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on X. “It is hard to bear when schools become places of death and violence.”