A woman lights a candle at a makeshift memorial site in front of the school the day after ten people died in a school shooting, on June 11, 2025 in Graz, southeastern Austria. Photo / Alex Halada, AFP
A woman lights a candle at a makeshift memorial site in front of the school the day after ten people died in a school shooting, on June 11, 2025 in Graz, southeastern Austria. Photo / Alex Halada, AFP
A suspected school gunman sent his mother a suicide video before he murdered at least 10 people and killed himself in the Austrian city of Graz.
The mother alerted the police to the video, which warned of the attack, 24 minutes after receiving it, by which point the killing spreehad already started, according to local media reports.
The 21-year-old suspect, a former student at the school identified in local media as “Arthur A”, opened fire inside two classrooms at the BORG Dreierschutzengasse school at around 10am, before killing himself in a toilet.
Today NZT, residents of Kalsdorf, the suburb of Graz where the suspect lived, described him as a standoffish young man who dressed in dark clothing and ignored their greetings.
Austrian police disclosed that the suspect had also been plotting a pipe bomb attack on the school, but apparently abandoned the plan as the device did not work.
The gunman, who wounded a further 12 people, was a dropout who sought revenge for being bullied at the school, according to Austrian media reports, but police said the motivation for the attack is not clear.
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.
People light candles in Vienna's St Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) in respect for the victims of the "BORG Dreierschuetzengasse" school in Graz, southeastern Austria, one day after ten people died there in a shooting. Photo / Georg Hochmuth, AFP
Krone Zeitung, another Austrian news outlet, said the suspect’s suicide letter included an apology to his family for the act he was about to commit and said he was carrying out the attack of his own “free will”.
Neighbours told the Telegraph the suspect lived with his mother in a ground-floor apartment with a small garden, in a housing complex in Kalsdorf.
They said the suspect seemed normal when they encountered him walking a dog, but wasn’t particularly friendly.
Thomas Gasser, a 38-year-old neighbour, said: “He would often be in dark clothing and wore a cap.
“I would greet him but he would not greet me back. They lived together, the man and his mother. It is stressful, this is a family neighbourhood, with lots of children.”
Natalia Chalakova, another resident, was struggling to fathom the idea that the suspect had been living so close to her own home.
She said: “It is such a shock. This is normally a very quiet neighbourhood. For us, this is a story you would see in America, not here.”
Esmeralda Cehajic, 32, said: “My father used to see him while walking his dog, but said there was nothing unusual about him”.
Kalsdorf is a housing estate of carefully tended gardens full of flower arrangements and trimmed hedges. Several play areas for children and a swimming pool are close to the apartment where the suspected killer lived.
The back garden of the suspect’s apartment was visible from a public path that runs alongside the building.
A Buddha statue and several wooden bird decorations in a well-tended garden could be seen from the path. Shutters had been drawn over the department’s windows.
Austrian authorities released further details about the victims of the attack, as they confirmed that nine students and one teacher were killed.
The ages of the students killed in the shooting range from 14-17 while the teacher was identified as a 59-year-old female. One of the victims is a Polish citizen and the rest are Austrian, police said.
Paul Nitsche, a religious studies teacher who survived the attack, told reporters he saw the suspect trying to shoot through a lock on one of the doors. He also said he initially didn’t believe a shooting was taking place.
“I was working on my own in a room, I thought at first it was fireworks. Then I thought maybe it’s an attack and decided to run.
“I saw the attacker very briefly, trying to shoot through the lock on a door of a classroom,” he said.
“I was scared. I kept running. I saw the bodies of a female pupil lying on the floor and a female teacher, and I knew it was true,” he added.
Police said the guns used were in the suspect’s possession legally.
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 yesterday.
Christian Stocker, the Austrian Chancellor, called the mass shooting a “dark day in the history of the country” as he declared three days of national mourning.
People place candles and flowers in front of landmark Vienna's St Stephen's Cathedral (Stephansdom) in respect for the victims. Photo / Georg Hochmuth, AFP
Hundreds came together in Graz’s main square on to remember the victims. Others left flowers and lit candles outside the school, while dozens queued to donate blood for the survivors.
By today, 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.
