Austria school shooter's mother saw suicide message too late to stop attack
The suspected school gunman who killed at least 11 people in the Austrian city of Graz sent his mother a suicide video warning of his plans ahead of the attack.
The mother alerted the police to the video 24 minutes after receiving it, by which point the Tuesday morning killing spree had already started, according to a report.
The 21-year-old suspect, a former student at the school identified in local media as 'Artur A', opened fire inside two classrooms at the BORG Dreierschützengasse school at around 10am, before killing himself in a toilet.
The gunman, who wounded a further 12 people, was a dropout who allegedly considered himself to have been a victim of bullying at the school, although police have not confirmed this.
According to Heute, an Austrian newspaper, he declared his plans to attack the school in the farewell video, but his mother opened it too late.
In the deadliest mass shooting in Austria's history, nine people – six women and three men including students and an adult – were shot dead at the school itself.
Two more victims died from their injuries after being taken to hospital.
After raiding his home on Tuesday, police said they found a farewell note as well as the suicide video, but it did not reveal the motive for the attack. A non-functioning pipe bomb was also discovered.
'A farewell letter in analogue and digital form was found,' Franz Ruf, the director of public security, told ORF public television.
'He says goodbye to his parents. But no motive can be inferred from the farewell letter,' he said, adding that investigations into the motive were moving swiftly.
Only 17 minutes elapsed between the first emergency calls received by police about shots being fired and the school being declared safe, Mr Ruf said.
The suicide video was reported within this time frame, Heute reported.
Police said the guns used were in the suspect's possession legally, and Mr Ruf said that while Austrian gun laws are strict, the case was being looked into. 'If there are any loopholes, they need to be closed,' he said.
The city was on alert for potential copycat attacks after police revealed they had received a threat against another school in Graz late on Tuesday.
Christian Stocker, the Austrian chancellor, called the mass shooting a 'dark day in the history of the country' on Tuesday as he declared three days of national mourning.
Hundreds came together in Graz's main square on Tuesday evening to remember the victims. Others left flowers and lit candles outside the school, while dozens queued to donate blood for the survivors.
By Wednesday morning, health authorities in Graz said that all patients were in stable condition.
Nine were still in intensive care units, with one needing a further operation on a facial wound and a second on a knee injury, while another two had been moved to regular wards.
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