“DARK HOUR”
The Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper said in an unconfirmed report that the suspect, armed with a pistol and a shotgun, had opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his own. It said he had been a victim of bullying.
Police said investigations into a motive were continuing.
Julia Ebner, an extremism expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think-tank, said the incident appeared to be the worst school shooting in Austria’s post-war history.
Foreign leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz expressed shock.
Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 people, according to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project.
Four people were killed and 22 injured when a convicted terrorist went on a shooting spree in the centre of Vienna in 2020. In November 1997, a 36-year-old mechanic shot dead six people in the town of Mauterndorf before killing himself.
