Death toll in Austria school shooting rises to 11 after victim dies in hospital

Adam Goldsmith
Live reporter

The Austrian city of Graz is in mourning after a suspected gunman killed 10 people in a secondary school shooting this morning.

Seven women and three men are so far counted among the dead, local officials have said.

The 21-year-old suspect – a former pupil that did not graduate from the high school – is believed by police to have killed himself in the school bathroom.

At least 11 people injured in the attack are being treated at local hospitals – one of them remains in critical condition.

Two legal firearms were used by the gunman, authorities say, and the suspect was not known to police before today’s deadly attack.

Tearful families have since been consoling each other near the Dreierschützengasse high school, where the incident took place at around 10:00 local time (09:00 BST).

At a press conference a few hours ago, Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker declared today “a dark day in [the] history of our country” – it could be the deadliest in Austria’s post-war history, our Europe reporter writes.

A period of national mourning will begin tomorrow for three days, with a nationwide minute of silence starting at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST).

We’re closing our live coverage for now, but we’ll be keeping our news story updated with any developments.

The death toll in the Graz attack has risen to 11 after a victim injured in this morning’s shooting died in hospital, Austria’s APA news agency and ORF report.

AFP news agency also reports comments from a hospital official: “A woman has died from her injuries in a hospital.”

Earlier, officials said that six females and three males were among the dead.

Police believe the suspect, a 21-year-old former student, killed himself in a school bathroom.

Residents of Graz are heeding the calls of the Austrian Red Cross and donating blood at a donation centre.

The Red Cross has opened a centre at a hotel in the city, while football club Sturm Graz has also opened a donation point at its training centre.

“All we can do is try to make a small contribution,” the club’s managing business director Thomas Tebbich says.

“That’s why SK Sturm invites you to donate blood at the Messendorf training center. Come and donate blood, it saves lives.”

We’ve been verifying videos posted online following the shooting, including the below footage of the moment loud gunshots were heard in a classroom.

The video shows students panicking and looking outside a window, as gunshots ring out in the background. Other footage shows armed police officers inside the school as pupils run towards the exit.

Warning: This video contains distressing images

We’re now hearing that a victim injured in this morning’s school shooting in Graz has died in hospital, Kleine Zeitung and Die Presse reports.

We’re still working to confirm these reports but will bring you more details as we get them.

Nick Thorpe
Reporting from Graz

I’m here outside of the school where the shooting took place in Graz, and I’ve been speaking to neighbours about the events from this morning.

Neighbours say the shooting took place partly outside of the school and in two classrooms on the second floor.

One person told me he first heard 10 or 15 shots. There was then a short break, and the shooting began again.

He tells me he immediately called the police, which he says was at around 09:55 local time (08:55 BST).

A short while later, the neighbour says he heard a final shot.

A mother of a student who was at the school where the deadly Graz attack unfolded says she still hasn’t been able to calm down.

She says her son was able to reach her fairly quickly – as “he had a cell phone” – and was able to let her know that he was “fine”.

“But I still haven’t calmed down yet,” she says.

“It’s unbelievable when you’re sitting at home and don’t know whether you’re safe or not. That was distressing,” she says, adding: “I get scared all the time.”

Laura Gozzi
Europe reporter

There have been a handful of deadly shooting incidents in Austria in recent years.

In 1997, a 15-year-old student shot and killed a teacher and injured another in Zobern, and in 2018 an 18-year-old injured a student with a shotgun in Mistelbach.

The country has also been the scene of other, deadlier, mass shootings.

In 1997, Johann Gautsch killed six people in the town of Mauterndorf, while in 2013 a poacher shot dead four police officers and a paramedic in the woods in Lower Austria.

And in 2020, during a coronavirus lockdown, Austria was rocked by an attack in which four people were killed and 23 wounded by a gunman on a rampage in central Vienna.

But today’s school shooting in Graz – which is now known to have left 10 people dead – is likely to be the deadliest in post-war Austrian history.

We can now bring you an update about the people who were injured in the shooting at a secondary school in Graz earlier today.

Two people are in “critical condition”, a local healthcare provider says in a press release on their website.

KAGes, which operates in Graz and the rest of the Styria region in Austria, says five others are “seriously injured”.

The healthcare provider is treating 12 people in total who were injured in the shooting, the statement adds.

A city government meeting is currently taking place in Graz, according to the mayor.

Elke Kahr said at an earlier press conference that city officials will meet some of the victims’ relatives and school staff to discuss next steps.

This is a closed-door meeting, but we will bring you any lines as soon as we have them.

A local journalist tells BBC News that she has seen “people crying on the streets” in the wake of the deadly gun attack in Austria.

Fanny Gasser, who works for Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung, explains that though Graz is the country’s second biggest city, it’s a place where “everybody knows somebody”.

“It’s not that big, so you know about people who went to school there.”

The journalist adds that, in Austria, she doesn’t think “schools prepare for something like that”.

Checking bags, for instance, isn’t something that’s done in schools, Gasser says.

“That’s just not something that’s common in Austria.”

We’re now seeing images come through on the wires that show families reuniting after this morning’s deadly attack in Graz.

Authorities said earlier the school where the shooting unfolded will remain closed until further notice.

Three days of mourning will also be observed across Austria.

• Who was the suspected gunman? A 21-year-old Austrian man from the Graz area, according to local police
• What happened to him? He died by suicide in a bathroom at the school and he was not known to police before the attack, the police added

• What else do we know? He was a former student at the school where the attack happened but didn’t graduate, according to Interior Minister Gerhard Karner
• Were the guns legally owned? Police said the two firearms used in the attack were legally owned by the suspected gunman and that he had a firearms licence

We still do not know the identity of the 21-year-old, but police have said the investigation is ongoing.

Austrian officials have just finished addressing the media outside the secondary school where 10 people died in a shooting earlier today.

Here’s what we learned:

• Nine people were killed in the attack and 12 more were injured, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner confirmed – six of the victims were female and three were male

• The suspected perpetrator was a 21-year-old Austrian man from the Graz area. He died by suicide in a bathroom at the school, local police said
• The 21-year-old was a former student at the school where the attack happened, but he did not graduate, Karner said
• Two guns were used in the attack – a long gun and a handgun, police said
• Both firearms were legally owned by the suspected gunman, who also had a firearm licence
• Three days of mourning will be observed across Austria and a nationwide minute of silence to remember the victims will be held at 10:00 local time (09:00 BST) tomorrow

The news conference in Graz has now ended, but while taking questions from reporters police confirmed that the suspected gunman was not known to police before today’s attack.

According to their current information, police say he legally owned the two firearms used in the attack and also had a firearms licence.

• Read more about gun ownership laws in Austria in our earlier post

A reporter asks what is known about the suspect so far.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner says the suspect was a former student at the school where the attack occurred, but he did not graduate.

He says there is lots of speculation going around, but it is now the job of the criminal office to investigate.

Austria’s Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr is now
speaking.

He says he is trying to find words for an incident that
cannot be described in words and that today is about offering support and help
where necessary.

He says the school where the attack unfolded will remain closed until further notice.

Police say the suspected gunman used two guns secured at a crime scene, which they say is based on knowledge of the police force.

A police spokesman says the scene where the deadly attack was carried out was secured in 17 minutes.

We’re continuing to provide live updates of a news conference in Graz, Austria, where officials are providing updates on the deadly attack that happened at a school there earlier today.

The perpetrator was a 21-year-old Austrian man from the Graz area, local police officers confirm.

Officers say that the man died by suicide in the bathroom at the school.

They are still investigating the motive.

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner confirms there were nine victims: six females and three males.

The gunman also died, he says.

There were 12 others injured, he says.