“SHOCKED”
Police said the alleged perpetrator was an Austrian from the Graz region who used two legally owned weapons.
He was a former pupil at the secondary school, but never finished his studies there, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told reporters.
Some Austrian media claimed that the suspect had been bullied, while television stations discussed the ease with which Austrians can acquire firearms and the number in circulation in the country.
Ennio, a student at the school, told AFP on Wednesday that “there are stories from classmates who were often harassed, and in a situation like this, it’s indescribably difficult.
“We ask that we be left in peace today so that we can mourn together and try to understand the situation.”
One resident, originally from the United States, whose children attend a nearby primary school and nursery school, said she was “shocked”.
“In my home country, it happens more often, as we know, but that it happens here is unheard of,” she said, declining to give her name.
“Graz is a safe city,” said Roman Klug, 55, who said he lived close to the school that he said was “known for its openness and diversity”.
RARE ATTACK
Condolences poured in from European leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Gun violence is rare in Austria, which is home to almost 9.2 million people and ranks among the 10 safest countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index.
Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities in recent years that were not connected to terrorism, although they are still less common than in the US.
In France, a teaching assistant was killed in a knife attack at a school in the eastern town of Nogent on Tuesday.
In January, an 18-year-old man fatally stabbed a secondary school pupil and a teacher in northeastern Slovakia.
And in December, a 19-year-old man stabbed to death a seven-year-old pupil and injured several others at a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia.
In December 2023, an attack by a student at a university in central Prague left 14 people dead and 25 injured.
A few months earlier, a 13-year-old gunned down nine fellow classmates and a security guard at a primary school in Belgrade.
