Austria school shooting leaves at least eight people and suspected gunman dead
A tragic school shooting occurred in Graz, Austria, resulting in the deaths of at least eight individuals, including seven students and one adult. The suspected shooter also died, and local authorities believe he acted alone. Emergency services, including special forces, were deployed to the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school following reports of the incident. The situation was secured, and students were evacuated safely to a designated meeting point. The mayor of Graz, Elke Kahr, described the event as a “terrible tragedy.” Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker and President Alexander Van der Bellen expressed their condolences, highlighting the profound grief felt across the nation as this event deeply shocks Austrian society. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen remarked on the heartbreaking transformation of schools from places of learning to sites of violence and death.
Austria school shooting leaves at least eight people and suspected gunman dead
VIENNA (AP) — At least eight people were killed in a shooting at a school in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, and the suspected perpetrator also died, the city’s mayor said.
Mayor Elke Kahr described the events as a “terrible tragedy,” the Austria Press Agency reported. It added that the fatalities were seven students and one adult. Kahr said that many people were taken to hospitals with injuries.
Police said they believe the assailant acted alone.
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 a call at 10 a.m. At 11.30 a.m., 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 that there is no longer believed to be any danger.
Police deployed in large numbers, with police and other emergency vehicles guarding the area around the school and with at least one police helicopter flying above the area, according to photos published by the regional newspaper Kleine Zeitung.
Graz, Austria’s second-biggest city, is located in the southeast of the country and has about 300,000 inhabitants.
Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said the shooting “is a national tragedy that deeply shocks our whole country.”
“There are no words for the pain and grief that all of us — the whole of Austria — feel now,” he wrote in a statement posted on X.
President Alexander Van der Bellen said that “this horror cannot be captured in words.”
“These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way,” he said.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner was on his way to Graz.
“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.”
" Conservative News Daily does not always share or support the views and opinions expressed here; they are just those of the writer."
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases
Auto Amazon Links: Could not resolve the given unit type, . Please be sure to update the auto-insert definition if you have deleted the unit.