Austria Observes 3-Day National Mourning After Mass School Shooting
X/ @NBCPhiladelphia
June 11, 2025 Hour: 9:42 am
‘What happened in a school in Graz strikes our country at the heart,’ said President Van der Bellen.
From Wednesday to Friday, Austrians will observe a national mourning period to pay tribute to those killed in a mass shooting at a high school.
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At least 11 people were killed, including the shooter, in the school shooting that happened in Austria’s second-largest city of Graz. Another 11 were hospitalized with serious injuries. This shooting is considered one of the most serious shootings in the history of Austria, the newspaper Kronen Zeitung said.
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen on Tuesday announced a three-day national mourning and the lowering of the country’s flag to half-staff, saying that “what happened today in a school in Graz strikes our country at the heart.”
Government leaders, including Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker, Vice-Chancellor Andreas Babler and Foreign Minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger, gathered in Graz on Tuesday evening at an event in memory of the victims.
“Schools are symbols of youth, hope, and the future. It’s hard to bear when schools become places of death and violence,” said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the social platform X.
The shooting occurred at the school of BORG in Dreierschutzengasse in the Lend district shortly before 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Police confirmed the suspected perpetrator as a 21-year-old shooter, who used to be a student at BORG. He is reported to have shot himself dead. Police have been mobilized in the region, with a helicopter deployed. The school has been evacuated, and further danger is excluded.
On Wednesday morning, a nationwide minute of silence will be observed at 10 a.m. local time. Public celebrations have been canceled or postponed.
“You don’t have words for such things. Austria is such a lovely country. We stay together, we live together, and such tragedies like this today is unbelievable,” a resident of Graz said.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: Xinhua
