The death toll from the school shooting in Austria’s second-biggest city, Graz, has risen to 11 after a victim injured in this morning’s shooting died in hospital, Austria’s APA news agency and ORF report.
A former student opened fire at the school on Tuesday, fatally wounding the victims and injuring many others before taking his own life, authorities said.
There was no immediate information on the motive of the 21-year-old man, who had no previous police record. He used two weapons, which he was believed to have owned legally, police said.
“Today is a dark day in the history of our country,” Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker told reporters in Graz, a city of about 300,000 people in southeastern Austria, says AP.
He called it “a national tragedy that shocks us deeply” and said there would be three days of national mourning, with the Austrian flag lowered to half-staff at official buildings. A national minute of silence is to be held on Wednesday morning in memory of the victims.
Special forces were among those sent to the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, about a kilometer (over half a mile) from Graz’s historic center, after calls at 10am reporting shots at the building. More than 300 police officers were sent to the school, which was evacuated. Footage from the scene showed students filing out quickly past armed officers.
Police said security was restored in 17 minutes.
The assailant, who acted alone, was a 21-year-old Austrian man who lived near Graz, police said. His name was not released.
Regional police chief Gerald Ortner said two firearms — a long gun and a handgun — were used in the shooting and recovered from the scene, and that the assailant was apparently legally in possession of them. The man took his own life in a bathroom.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said the gunman had been a student at the school and had not completed his studies. He did not specify when the man left the school or at what age.
Karner said Tuesday afternoon that seven of the dead were female and three were male, but did not provide further information. According to the Austria Press Agency, 11 other people were wounded.
Austria’s Red Cross said it had deployed 65 ambulances to the scene and 158 emergency staffers were helping treat the injured. In addition, 40 specially trained psychologists were counselling students and parents. The Red Cross also called on locals to come forward and donate blood.
Tuesday’s violence appeared to be the deadliest attack in Austria’s post-World War II history.
Austria, which has a strong tradition of hunting, has some of the more liberal gun laws in the European Union. Some weapons, such as rifles and shotguns can be purchased in Austria from the age of 18 without a permit.