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Euronews
5 days ago
- Politics
- Euronews
Austrian gunman was obsessed with school shootings, police say
According to police, the gunman was fascinated by school shootings, but his motive remains a mystery. After killing 10 people at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school in Graz, the perpetrator killed himself. He left the school three years earlier. The incident in Austria's second-largest city was the deadliest mass shooting in the country's recent history. Although his motive for the attack remains unclear, investigators can 'say with certainty that, over the years, he developed a passion for school shootings,' said Michael Lohnegger, the head of Styria province's criminal police office. 'He glorified not just the acts in general, but also the perpetrators who carried out these acts." The gunman had planned the attack meticulously, according to investigators, but they did not know why he chose the date he did for the massacre or why he stopped shooting when he did - the gunman still had many additional bullets. The shooter had no prior criminal record. During a search of his house, police found plans for an explosive attack as well as a non-functioning pipe bomb. Officers also discovered a digital and handwritten suicide note addressed to his parents, although the Director of Public Security Franz Ruf said that it offered no motive. Nine of the 11 people wounded in last week's attack remain in hospital, Lohnegger said on Tuesday, adding that they were not in critical condition. The shooter used two firearms he legally owned to carry out the attack. On Monday, Chancellor Christian Stocker vowed to tighten Austria's gun laws. In the wake of the attack, the mayor of Graz, Elke Kahr, called for a complete ban on private weapons. Gun licenses are "issued too quickly," she said last week. The European Water Resilience Strategy presented this month by the European Commission aims to reduce water pollution, prevent waste and make water accessible to all. The EU's executive body promises to help member states better implement the 2000 Water Framework Directive and three related laws. It will also promote more investment, given the seriousness of the situation. Only 37% of the EU's surface waters have a good ecological status and only 29% have a good chemical status. The continent is the fastest-warming region in the world due to climate change, which has increased the number of water-related natural disasters. Currently, 30% of the EU suffers from water scarcity due to prolonged droughts. Meanwhile, devastating floods caused €325 billion in damage between 1980 and 2023. "Everyone knows the emergency we are in and the investments needed in the sector. We have the numbers," said Hildegard Bentele (Germany/EPP), a centre-right lawmaker who chairs the MEP Water Group at the European Parliament. "We can react with the next EU budget and make better use of Cohesion Policy, because we have seen that the funds have not been used for the necessary investments," she added. According to the European Commission, around €55 billion is spent on water investments across Europe, but there is an annual gap of €23 billion additional funding needed. To address this gap, the EU executive will allocate a larger share of the Cohesion Policy funds, which are intended for less wealthy regions, to water management. In addition, the European Investment Bank will launch a new programme: €15 billion will be available over the period 2025-2027 and it aims to attract a further €25 billion from commercial investors. Industry and agriculture are two sectors that use a lot of fresh water and also contribute to its pollution with chemicals. One of the main issues the Commission intends to address is water pollution, particularly caused by chemicals called PFAS or 'forever chemicals'. "PFAS are substances dubbed forever pollutants because they don't easily break down. So they tend to accumulate over time in the environment. Research has shown that exposure to certain types of PFAS causes serious health problems," said Amandine Hess, Euronews reporter who covered the communication. "The Commission is planning to launch a public-private partnership to support innovation, to clean up pollution from PFAS and other chemicals. The 'polluter pays' principle will be applied, so it means that public funding would be used only for the sites where it has not been possible to identify who is responsible for the pollution," she added. NGOs and the European Green Party say the strategy falls far short of providing concrete answers to the complex problems surrounding water management, pointing to a lack of clear legal requirements and a failure to tackle pollution at source. "The environmentalists are calling for strict management of fertilisers and chemicals. On the other hand, the Commission call to increase water efficiency by at least 10% by 2030 but does not set clear binding targets," said Amandine Hess. MEP Hildegard Bentele admits that a 10% target for water efficiency is "a modest good intention" and acknowledges that member states are lagging behind in implementing legislation, going so far as to say that "we could sanction member states that do not meet the targets". "We are behind schedule, we have not seen much progress in the last 20 years. That is why we need to move faster. I would like to see the Commission more rigorous in this regard in the coming years, including in the new strategy",said MEP Hildegard Bentele. Watch the video here! Journalist: Isabel Marques da Silva Content production: Pilar Montero López Video production: Zacharia Vigneron Graphism: Loredana Dumitru Editorial coordination: Ana Lázaro Bosch and Jeremy Fleming-Jones
Daily Mail
13-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Classroom killer's final photos: Cat-obsessed gunman posted photograph of his FEET inside school bathroom cubicle moments before killing ten - and also took pictures of weapons he used
The Austrian shooter who killed 10 people at his former school before turning the gun on himself earlier this week shared pictures of his preparation and the weapons he used in the assault to social media, it has emerged. Arthur A., a 21-year-old avid gamer and cat lover, launched his attack at the BORG Dreierschutzengasse high school in Graz, a city in the southern state of Styria, on Tuesday. The shooter shared an image of his own feet clad in black leather combat boots while sitting in a toilet cubicle on the third floor of the school. There he strapped on a gun belt with a hunting knife, shooting glasses and a headset, loaded his weapons and stormed into the hallways to carry out the massacre that was later confirmed as Austria's worst mass shooting. In two other posts, the young killer snapped a selfie and showed off a shotgun and a pistol he had bought along with the caption: 'Veeeeeerrry early birthday present for myself', according to Austrian media. He went on to use both weapons in the course of his rampage. The images of the killer were brought to light after it emerged the social recluse had sent his mother a farewell video moments before he carried out his attack, pleading for forgiveness for 'what I'm about to do now'. Investigators said his mother opened the video 24 minutes after receiving it and immediately notified police, but her son had already slaughtered 10 students and shot himself before armed cops descended on the scene. Arthur A. also requested that his cat be looked after following his demise and said that bullying at school had caused him to drop out early and led him to commit the heinous crime. The young killer showed off a shotgun and a pistol he had bought along with the caption: 'Veeeeeerrry early birthday present for myself'. Both were used in the shooting 'A farewell letter in analogue and digital form was found,' Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria's interior ministry, told ORF public television following the shooting. 'He says goodbye to his parents. But no motive can be inferred from the farewell letter, and that is a matter for further investigations.' Asked whether the assailant had attacked victims randomly or targeted them specifically, Ruf said that is also under investigation and he didn't want to speculate. He said that wounded people were found on various levels of the school and, in one case, in front of the building. The student victims were aged between 14 and 17. A teacher was also killed. In new details, investigators said the gunman, who would have turned 22 in less than two weeks, had maintained contact with only one friend in the days leading up to the attack. Mayor of Karlsdorf, a small town near Graz where the killer lived, told reporters the evidence suggested that Arthur A. 'was a very inconspicuous young man'. 'It felt like he wasn't even noticed. Nobody really knew him. This is exactly the profile that we unfortunately see too often - silent, socially isolated recluses.' Austrian outlet Kronen Zeitung said the killer had an interest in the 1999 US Columbine school massacre in Colorado carried out by two teenage shooters and that he apparently used a photo of one of the pair on a profile linked to his online gaming pseudonym. Police are continuing to scour the shooter's electronic devices but said yesterday they had not discovered any video of the high school shooting on his mobile phone. Criminal police head Michael Lohnegger described the shooter as a 'very introverted person'. 'We discovered that his great passion was participating in so-called online first-person shooting games,' Lohnegger said, adding the killer had carefully planned the attack, according to a handwritten note found at his home. This note 'showed that the entire course of events had been planned by the perpetrator down to the most minute detail', Lohnegger said. Austrian media published photos that showed the killer being lauded for his exploits as a competitive gamer. Arthur A. was seen wearing a yellow and black team jersey at an Austrian gaming tournament called VulkanLAN2024 last year. He was also pictured clutching what appeared to be a winning plaque. People light candles on the main square in the city center after a deadly shooting at a school in Graz, Austria, Tuesday, June 10, 2025 Nine students were killed in Tuesday's attack - six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17, one of whom had Polish citizenship - as well as a teacher, police said. Another 11 people were wounded before the attacker took his own life. A 15-year-old Kosovan girl named Lea Ilir Bajrami was the first of his victims to be pictured. Mourning the teen in a Facebook post, her heartbroken aunt wrote: 'Today, my niece Lea tragically lost her life in the attack in Graz. 'We pray for her soul and express our gratitude to all those who share our pain during these difficult times.' Her grandfather Muhabi Bajrami wrote on Facebook: 'With a broken heart and great pain, we inform family, friends and relatives that our granddaughter tragically lost her life in the attack that occurred in Graz, Austria. 'We pray for her soul and express our gratitude to all those who share our pain in these difficult moments.' Shots and screams rang out as the shooter stormed into his old classroom blasting a shotgun and a pistol. Terror-stricken pupils pretended to be dead as they cowered in corridors and two classrooms or ran for their lives. Chilling video captured the sound of shots followed by screams as the gunman picked off his victims. One student fleeing from the shooter called her mother during the attack saying: 'Mama, mama, I'm running for my life!' The mother described the situation to reporters as unbearable, saying: 'It was so terrible, you can't even imagine it.' Another student reportedly witnessed three classmates being shot. His father said: 'He was terrified and lay down on the floor so the shooter would think he was dead.' In the country's worst mass school shooting, terror-stricken pupils pretended to be dead as they cowered in corridors and two classrooms or ran for their lives. Pictured: Special forces descended on the high school shortly before 10am local time after reports of gunshots A 15-year-old Kosovan girl named Lea was the first victim to be pictured Pictured: Two female students cling on to each other as they escape the school building People embrace as they gather on the main square following a deadly school shooting in Graz, Austria, June 10, 2025 Family members reunite following the deadly school shooting in Graz, Austria The school's religious studies teacher Paul Nitsche told how he saw the gunman blasting out locks with a shotgun before entering and spraying staff and students with handgun bullets. 'It was hard to take in,' he said. 'This is something I had never even imagined before. That's what the situation was like as I was running down the stairwell - I thought to myself, this isn't real.' Another teacher, who asked not to be named, said: 'The whole community is in a state of shock. Schools should be places of safety and learning. But on this day it became more like something from a nightmare. 'Everyone was in a state of sheer terror.' On Tuesday, Cchurch bells rang across the city of Graz, all local radio and TV broadcasts were interrupted and more than 900 public transport vehicles, including trams and buses, ground to a halt for 10am mark of remembrance. Two other schools in the city, including a nursery school, were evacuated today after they received 'copycat' threats shortly before the planned minute's silence, though no further attacks occurred. Six female and three male victims died quickly after being shot, with one adult said to be among them.
1News
12-06-2025
- 1News
Farewell letter found at home of Austrian school shooter
Investigators found a farewell letter and a non-functional pipe bomb when they searched the home of a man who opened fire at his former school in Austria, killing 10 people and taking his own life, police said today. As Austria mourned the victims of what appeared to be the deadliest attack in its post-World War II history, with a national minute of silence planned in the morning, questions remained about the motive of the shooter. The 21-year-old Austrian man lived near Graz and was a former student at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, in Austria's second-biggest city, who hadn't completed his studies. Police have said that he used two weapons, a shotgun and a handgun, which he appeared to have owned legally. Police officers attend the scene of a shooting at a school in Graz, Austria. (Source: Associated Press) Police didn't elaborate on investigators' findings in a brief post on social network X. But a senior official who acknowledged that the letter had been found last night said it hadn't allowed them to draw conclusions. ADVERTISEMENT 'A farewell letter in analogue and digital form was found,' Franz Ruf, the public security director at Austria's Interior Ministry, told ORF public television. 'He says goodbye to his parents. But no motive can be inferred from the farewell letter, and that is a matter for further investigations.' Asked whether the assailant had attacked victims randomly or targeted them specifically, Ruf said that is also under investigation and he didn't want to speculate. He said that wounded people were found on various levels of the school and, in one case, in front of the building.
Qatar Tribune
12-06-2025
- Qatar Tribune
Plans for bomb attack found in Austrian school shooting suspect's home
dpa Vienna Discarded plans for a bomb attack were found at the home of the suspected perpetrator of a deadly school shooting rampage in the Austrian city of Graz, police said on Wednesday. Police also found a non-functioning pipe bomb during a search of the home of the 21-year-old, who had previously attended the school but not graduated. The suspect opened fire before taking his own life in a bathroom, leaving a total of 11 people dead, most of them teens, police said. The gunman used two legally owned weapons to carry out the mass attack, according to Austrian authorities. His motive is not yet known. According to the police, a farewell letter and video from the attacker contained no clues. Reports that he had been bullied have not yet been confirmed by the authorities. The young man had been a student at the high school until two years ago and had repeated a school year several times, Franz Ruf, a senior official at the Interior Ministry, told radio station Ö1. Police said he lived with his mother. Due to the risk of copycat crimes the police have now stepped up security at schools in Austria. In addition, around 400 special forces across the country are on high alert, according to reports. Officials also updated their information on the victims of the shooting. According to the latest reports, six girls and three boys aged between 14 and 17 died at the scene. Police had initially reported that the victims were aged between 15 and 17. A seriously injured teacher died in hospital from her injuries. One of the dead was a Polish national, the others were Austrian citizens. Eleven injured people, aged between 15 and 26, are still being treated in hospital and are in stable condition, police and hospital operator Kages said.
Boston Globe
11-06-2025
- Boston Globe
‘We're just speechless': Austria mourns after deadly school rampage
'We're just speechless — this seems to have come from nowhere,' said Simone Saccon, 20, a university student who has spent his life in Graz. He lives near the school, the BORG Dreierschützengasse, and was among those gathered outside Wednesday. Advertisement 'It's something you imagine happens in major cities or in the US, but that it would happen here?' he added. Austria was a nation in mourning Wednesday. Black flags flapped atop the public trams in Graz, a well-to-do city that is the nation's second-largest, after Vienna. At 10 a.m., the trains stopped running briefly as all of Austria observed a minute of silence to honor the victims. There was no further danger to the public, the police had said, even though authorities confirmed they had found an unexploded pipe bomb at the assailant's home. The 21-year-old shooter had left what officials called a 'farewell letter' and a video message to his parents, then returned to the school where he never graduated. He opened fire with a handgun and a shotgun before killing himself in a school bathroom, according to the police. Advertisement Officials said the note had done little to demystify why the young man, who legally obtained his weapons, had embarked on the deadly school shooting — one of Europe's worst in the past decade. Franz Ruf, public security director at the Austrian Interior Ministry, told the television channel ORF that the letter did not seem to include a motive for the attack. And so the nation, like so many communities across the United States and around the world that have endured similar tragedy, was left to wonder what had gone wrong. 'What's really important now is to talk, to be silent together, to listen,' said Paul Nitsche, 51, a pastor who teaches religion at the school and who was standing on the street in front of the mourning area for the students. Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker canceled appointments Tuesday to travel to Graz and declared three days of national mourning, including Wednesday's period of silence. Residents and political leaders were struggling to process the shock. On Wednesday morning, a headline at the online site of Kronen Zeitung, the nation's largest newspaper, declared: 'The day after the rampage: Austria cries with Graz.' Most of the victims were schoolchildren — six girls and three boys, ages 14 to 17, according to police. Another victim, a teacher, died later at a hospital. Nitsche was alone in a classroom between lessons when he heard the shots. His first instinct was to hide and wait. 'It was as silent as if it was the middle of the night,' he said. 'Everyone was playing dead — smart.' After it seemed safe, he said, he ran out into a hallway where he saw the gunman trying to get into a locked door by shooting at it. As he raced away, he saw the body of one of the victims, a girl, and kept on running until he saw police officers storming in. 'So many uniforms can be really comforting,' he said. Advertisement Outside the school, makeshift shrines of candles, flowers, and stuffed animals lined the perimeter of the school. Investigators and firefighters were still entering and exiting the premises, but otherwise the school buildings were dark and quiet. Officials canceled school for the remainder of the week as they decide how to proceed. The summer break starts in early July, and many graduating students have yet to take their final exams before potentially going on to university. Belkez Halici, 39, who lives across from the school, was preparing for work Wednesday, tears streaming down her face. She had tried to keep the news from her three children, but they had heard about it on social media, she said, and they were upset and scared. 'I've always said, schools here are not safe,' Halici said. 'With people coming and going, it's like a shopping center.' This article originally appeared in
