Artur A, 21, carried out the worst school massacre in Austria’s history yesterday when he started shooting students at a school in Graz, where he had reportedly been the target of bullying
The victims of Austria’s worst school shooting played dead as the raging gunman prowled the corridors, picking off his former classmates and teachers with a legally-owned rifle and pistol. The horrified pupils pretended to be dead in the hope the killer, named locally as Artur A, would pass them by at Dreierschuetzengasse high school, reports say.
The terror was captured in dramatic footage in which the piercing screams of the victims can be heard ringing out in Austria’s second-largest city of Graz. The bloodbath came to an end when the killer turned a gun on himself in a toilet cubicle. Kosovan student Lea Bajrami, 15, is the first victim to have been named and pictured following the rampage at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school. Details of the remaining victims have not yet been shared.
Artur A, 21, had initially planned to take a pipe bomb to the school, but reportedly left the bomb behind with a farewell video for his mum before he set off to kill 10 pupils and staff- nine of whom were children aged 15-17. The adult victim was a 47-year-old female teacher. All eleven of those seriously injured in the massacre in Graz were described as stable in hospital today.
In the video message, he told his mum he was acting “of his own free will”. She reportedly saw it 24 minutes later and immediately alerted police. But despite trying to stop the bloodbath from unfolding, she opened the message too late as her son had already carried out his bloody attack before turning the gun on himself, according to ‘Heute’ in Austria.
Friends said the shooting could be an act of revenge after Artur dropped out of school and failed to pass his sixth form exam. In a suicide note found at his house in Graz, he revealed that he had felt “bullied”. The people of Austria will observe three days of national mourning from today.
Graz’s main square was lit with a sea of candles last night. Thousands of young people held a silent vigil in front of Archbishop Johann fountain in the heart of the old town, in front of the city hall.
“When you hear about it, you have so much sympathy for the people, maybe you could have known someone,” said Felix Platzer, a passerby at the vigil. “This is an example of solidarity and you grieve together and together it is easier to cope.”
Graz Cathedral held a service of reflection. In a nearby parish church, prayers were said for victims including one called Leo. ‘We are lighting a light for Leo,’ said Father Pesendorfer, who was in tears. Flags on the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, where the president has his office, will fly at half mast this morning.
Meanwhile, long queues formed outside a blood donation centre in Graz as 28 injured were being treated in hospital; 12 were said to be in a serious condition, with two critical. An adult victim died while being treated in a local clinic last night.
Austria has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in Europe, with roughly 370,000 Austrians legally owning 1.5million registered firearms, according to the interior ministry.
Wild hunting is popular in the country and more than half of Austria’s registered firearms fall under the category of weapons that can be owned by any adult without a licence.
The school is closed until further notice, with a vigil due to be held to remember the victims later today as the country goes into three days of mourning.