Austria shooting live updates: Police to probe how Graz school killer armed himself with guns before slaughtering nine victims in cold blood

Residents of Graz are donating blood following this morning’s school shooting in Graz.

The Red Cross has opened a donation centre at a hotel in the city, while football club Sturm Graz has also opened a donation point at its training centre.

‘All we can do is try to make a small contribution,’ the club’s managing business director Thomas Tebbich says.

‘That’s why SK Sturm invites you to donate blood at the Messendorf training center. Come and donate blood, it saves lives.’

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker and Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler attend a memorial service following a deadly school shooting in Graz, Austria

A member of rescue services knees on the floor and pray during a memorial service, following a shooting at a school, at the cathedral in Graz, Austria

Priest Ewald Pristavec holds a memorial service for the victims of the shooting this evening

A mother of a student who was at the school where the deadly Graz attack unfolded told Puls 24: ‘It’s unbelievable when you’re sitting at home and don’t know whether you’re safe or not. That was distressing.’

Fortunatley her son was able call her fairly quickly to let her know that he was ok, but she said she still hasn’t ‘calmed down’.

The death toll in the Graz attack has risen to 11 after a victim injured in this morning’s shooting died in hospital, Austria’s APA news agency and ORF reported.

According to AFP news agency the latest victim is a woman.

A hospital official reportedly confirmed to the outlet: ‘A woman has died from her injuries in a hospital.’

She is the tenth victim. Including the perpetrator, the death toll is eleven.

Earlier, officials said that six females and three males were among the dead.

Recalling hearing gunshots, a BORG student told Antenne Steiermark: ‘We thought it was a firecracker, but after we heard screams, things got serious.

The student added: ‘We ran away; many were crying or having panic attacks.’

A city government meeting is currently taking place in Graz, according to the mayor.

Elke Kahr (L) said at an earlier press conference that city officials will meet some of the victims’ relatives and school staff to discuss next steps.

Elke Kahr the mayor of Graz makes a phone call after a shooting at a school in Graz, Austria

The tenth victim of the Graz shooting has died in hospital, Austrian media have reported.

This brings the total number of dead – including the shooter – to eleven.

Terrifying video has emerged showing students hiding in a classroom and running for their lives as a gunman picked off victims during a shooting massacre at an Austrian school.

Horrifying footage shows how gunshots rang out through the school as the attacker is said to have entered two classrooms and ‘shot in circles’.

Terror-stricken pupils filmed the moment they fled their classrooms, running through the hallways as heavily armed cops descended on the building.

Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung is reporting police searching the 21-year-old gunman’s home this afternoon have discovered a suicide note.

A shooter who launched a murderous rampage at a school in Austria has been identified by police as a drop-out former student.

The 21-year-old suspect opened fire on students and staff at the BORG Dreierschuetzengasse high school in Graz, killing nine and injuring 28.

Armed with a shotgun and pistol, the attacker burst into two classrooms and shot in circles to inflict maximum damage, according to reports.

The massacre only ended when the gunman, who local media said had been the victim of bullying during his time at the school, shot himself dead in a toilet.

Families have been pictured emotionally embracing their loved ones after the school shooting in Graz.

Reuters have captured people hugging one another in Graz earlier this afternoon.

All pupils were evacuated from the school earlier today and taken to meeting points to be picked up by relatives.

Austrian players celebrate victory over Romania on Saturday

Austrian footballers will tonight wear black armbands as the national team plays a World Cup qualifier in San Marino.

A minute’s silence will also be observed before kick-off.

Men’s captain David Alaba said he was ‘deeply shocked’ by events in Graz. In a statement on X, he posted:

My thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their families, and all those affected by this horrific and senseless act of violence

Earlier the Austrian Football Association (ÖFB) announced:

In these painful hours, our thoughts are with the families and those affected. Wishing you strength in this difficult time.

European political leaders have expressed their condolences to Austria today in response to the school shooting in Graz.

Let’s take a look at some of the responses by neighbouring heads of states.

• Georgia Meloni – Italian Prime Minister

It is with sorrow that I learn of the tragic news involving a school in Graz, Austria, where a student killed several people and injured others, some of them very seriously. My closeness and that of the entire Italian Government goes to the families of the victims, together with a thought that I wish to extend to the injured and their loved ones.

• Volodymyr Zelensky – Ukrainian President

Deeply saddened by the tragic school shooting in Graz, which claimed many innocent lives. Schools should never become places of violence. Our hearts go out to the victims, their families, and the people of Austria. We wish a swift recovery to all those wounded. Ukraine shares this moment of grief with friendly Austria.

• Friedrich Merz – German Chancellor

Horrific news from Graz. Our thoughts are with our Austrian friends and neighbors and we mourn with them.

• Karin Keller-Sutter – President of the Swiss Federation

It is with great shock that I learned of the Graz massacre, in which many people lost their lives or were injured in a school. My thoughts go out to the families of all the victims of this horrible act. I wish a speedy recovery to the injured.

• Nataša Pirc Musar – President of Slovenia

I am deeply shocked and profoundly saddened by the tragic shooting at High School in Gradec, where at least ten lives were tragicly lost and many high school students were injured. On behalf of our country I extend our most sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims. We share in their grief, pain, and disbelief.

A father has told Austrian television how one of his two sons at the BORG Dreierschützengasse in Graz played dead in order to survive the school shooting earlier today.

The man, known only as Farag, told PULS 24 he thought his son was initially joking when he called him to say someone had opened fire at the school.

As he waited at a meeting point, he told reporters how his son ‘played dead’ during the shooting to avoid catching the killer’s attention.

He said both his children are safe but some of their friends are among the injured.

Speaking to PULS 24, he said:

Who did this? What kind of problem did he have? And especially at school? I don’t know what to say. This is really sad.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has sent his condolences to Austria following the shooting.

World leaders have showed their support throughout the day with Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni among those to issue statements.

Austria’s leading politicians appeared close to tears following an emotional appearance at a press conference in Graz.

Chancellor Christian Stocker was seen wiping his eye at one point , while interior minister Gerhard Karner was also seen visibly distraught as they addressed the media.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker has just led a press conference in Graz where more details were released following the school shooting earlier in the city.

Chancellor Stocker was joined by interior minister Gerhard Karner, Styria governor Mario Kunasek and police officials.

Here’s five key details we learned:

• The gunman who carried out the school shooting was a 21-year-old local man who was a former pupil at the school but didn’t finish his studies
• Two weapons, described as long and short guns, were found at the school after the man killed himself inside a toilet. Police said they would investigate how the weapons became legally owned
• Six women and three men were killed earlier after the gunman opened fire at around 10am this morning and 12 people remain seriously injured
• Chancellor Stocker confirmed Austria will hold three days of national mourning with no events scheduled to take place following what he said was a ‘dark day’ for the nation
• The school will remain closed with staff and pupils to be offered psychological help in the wake of the shooting

Interior minister Gerhard Karner has confirmed the suspected gunman was a former pupil who didn’t finish his studies at the school.

He added any other information about the 21-year-old is speculation and that it was the responsibility of state officials to gather background information on him.

Police have said the suspected gunman is a 21-year-old man from Graz.

Officers have confirmed two weapons, believed to be a shotgun and a weapon, were used during the shooting before the suspect killed himself in a toilet.

They add the suspect was ‘allowed’ to possess the weapons and that further investigations would be required to ascertain why he owned the guns.

Around 300 police officers were deployed in response to the shooting

Mario Kunasek, the Governor of Styria, speaks at the press conference next and starts by expressing his condolences.

Styria is mourning today, the green heart is crying. This is an unimaginable tragedy that happened this morning. The lives of many, not just the victims, have changed drastically today.

Mr Kunasek said he is moved not just as a governor but as a father

Interior minister Gerhard Karner adds that six women and three men have been confirmed dead.

The 10th fatality is the gunman who acted alone. Twelve people remain seriously injured.

Austria’s Federal Chancellor Christian Stocker has described the Graz school shooting as a ‘dark day’ in the history of Austria.

He said the killings are a ‘national tragedy’ which has ‘hit us deeply’.

There are no words to express the pain, the mourning, that all Austria is feeling right now.

He said today was about ‘compassion and cohesion’ as he insisted schools will act as ‘spaces of peace’.

He also confirms Austria will hold three days of national mourning.

Police are expected to hold a press conference at 3:15pm local time (2:15pm BST) to provide an update on the school shooting investigation.

Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker is also set to speak after travelling to Graz earlier today.

Austria is apparently planning to hold three days of national mourning in response to the Graz school shooting.

It means any celebrations planned will either be cancelled or postponed while flags will be flown at half-mast as a mark of respect.

The last time national mourning was declared in Austria was in response to the 2020 terrorist attack in Vienna when four people were shot dead by a lone gunman who pledged his allegiance to ISIS.

While information about the school shooting is continuing to emerge this afternoon, there remains some key details we have yet to receive.

• The identity of the gunman

Austrian media have reported the perpetrator is a 22-year-old former pupil at the school who was apparently bullied. The man was said to have taken his own life in a toilet following the rampage

Although local media have reported the gunman is believed to have had an unhappy period at the school, the precise motive for the attack remains unknown. It is reported he used two weapons; a pistol and a shotgun which were legally acquired.

Most of the victims are believed to be pupils while at least one adult is understood to be among the dead. However, identities and ages of the deceased have so far not been released.

This is the moment police shielded children caught up in the Graz school shooting as they were driven away from the scene of the attack.

After police declared the situation under control, the first wave of students were transported away from the school on local buses.

The pictures show officers standing in a line to guard the children as they were removed from the scene.

Two memorial services for school shooting victims will be held in Graz tonight.

The first will take place at 6:30pm local time at St. Vincent’s Church in Eggenberg, around 1.5km from the school in Dreierschuetzengasse.

A second vigil will then take place in Graz Cathedral.

Hospital staff across Graz are reportedly receiving psychological care after treating victims of the mass school shooting, it has emerged.

Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung has obtained details of an interim report by the Styrian Hospital Association which stated seven people, five children and two adults, being treated at LKH University Hospital in Graz.

The report found Psychological support is being provided not only to relatives but also to hospital staff.

It added capacity was ‘sufficient’ amid earlier reports hospital wards had become overstretched following the shooting.

Police have released another update to inform parents and relatives that children can now be picked up from the ASKO stadium in Graz.

The venue, home of the Graz Giants American football team, acted as a meeting point while police investigated the shooting.

Austrian police have now confirmed 10 people, including the gunman, have been killed in the Graz school shooting.

Authorities also added some victims remain seriously injured.

Police have set up a portal so people can report any suspicious observations, photographs, or videos of the attack with tips or other observations welcomed at any stations.

Graz is the second largest city in Austria with a and is located in the southeast of the country.

The crime occurred shortly before the tenth anniversary of the Graz rampage on June 20, 2015, which left three people dead and which many Graz residents still remember today.

Back in 2015, a 26-year-old naturalised Austrian citizen Alen Rizvanović drove a SUV at high speeds through Graz killing three people and injuring more than 40 others. He also stabbed two passers-by during the attack.

Rizvanović was handed a life sentence for the attack and later killed himself in prison.

Attacks in public are rare in the Alpine nation of almost 9.2 million people. It ranks among the ten safest countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index.

Austria’s federal president Alexander Van der Bellen has also released a statement in response to the tragedy.

This horror cannot be put into words. What happened today in a school in Graz, hits our country right in the heart. They were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them.

There is nothing that can ease the pain at this moment can, which the parents, the grandparents, the siblings, the friends of the murdered feel.

Austria is mourning. And in this hour we stand together. We stand together to face the pain. We stand together for all those to be there for those who are hurt.

Today and in the difficult days to come, our country will show that in this togetherness, our strength lies.

A mother has told Sky News of the distressing moment her son called her to tell her he thought he was going to die when he was being shot at in school.

The woman told the broadcaster she received a phone call from her child and only found out he had survived the shooting two hours later.

Watch the interview below:

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker (pictured) has released his first statement following the mass school shooting in Graz.

In a post released on X, he said:

The school shooting in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country. This incomprehensible act has suddenly torn young people from the lives they still had ahead of them. There are no words for the pain and grief that we all – all of Austria – are feeling right now.

My thoughts are with the families and parents who lost their children, their siblings, and their loved ones. My condolences go out to those who suffered injuries and immeasurable emotional distress as a result of this unimaginable act of violence, to all the students and school staff.

What happened today affects us all—as individuals, as parents, as a society. A school is a place of trust, security, and hope. The fact that this safe space was so brutally shattered leaves us stunned.

I thank the emergency services who acted quickly and prudently under the most difficult circumstances. And I thank those who are now investigating what happened and helping to process it. Today, it’s all about compassion. And about being there for one another. In these difficult times, humanity is our strongest force.

Chancellor Stocker is on his way to Graz and is expected to speak at a press conference at 3pm local time.

Footage appearing to show pupils being evacuated from the school following the shooting is circulating on social media.

Video posted by Austrian television channel AUF1 shows terrified children holding hands with one another as they flee the school as armed police check the corridors and classrooms.

The number of people killed in the Graz school shooting has risen to 10, the APA news agency is reporting.

The revised figure is said to have been confirmed my local Mayor Elke Kahr.

The Styrian Police Department is yet to verify the total number of fatalities and some victims remain in a critical condition.

Austrian media are reporting the gunman who carried out the mass shooting is believed to be a former pupil at the school and considered himself a victim of bullying.

He is reported to be 22-years-old.

Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten is reporting the suspected perpetrator was said to have carried two weapons: a pistol and a shotgun which owned legally.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker has cancelled events to celebrate 100 days of his government as politicians respond to the mass shooting in Graz.

According to Die Presse, Mr Stocker, Vice Chancellor Andreas Babler, and foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger (Neos) were due to celebrate the anniversary today.

Austria’s interior minister Gerhard Karner and education minister Christoph Wiederkehr are reported to be on their way to Graz.

Kronen Zeitung is reporting Chancellor Stocker is on his way to Graz with a press conference is scheduled for this afternoon.

Austrian police are working on the assumption that there is a sole suspect in a deadly school shooting in the city of Graz, they said on X this morning.

If you’re just joining us we have been reporting live updates on a school shooting in Austria where 10 people are reported to have been killed and dozens injured, some seriously.

Police were called to a school in Dreierschuetzengasse in the city of Graz shortly before 10am local time this morning.

Here’s what we know so far:

• At least 10 people have been killed and several more injured at an Austrian school, in one of the worst mass shootings in the country’s history
• Special forces police descended on the school in Dreierschuetzengasse in the city of Graz shortly before 10am local time this morning after reports of gunshots
• The suspected perpetrator, a student who has been described by local media as a victim of bullying, is believed to have killed himself after opening fire on two classrooms
• Police have given a news conference in Graz, confirming that several people have been killed and others wounded, including pupils and teachers, in the high school attack
• They declined to give a number of casualties, but Austrian have reported on at least nine killed and the figure has since risen to 10.
• Local Mayor Elke Kahr told APA news agency that the suspected gunman is among those dead
• Cops also confirmed that the gunman was a student at the school and that the vicinity has now been secured and there is no further danger
• Police, who evacuated the building this morning, deployed their specialist Cobra tactical unit, which handles attacks and hostage situations

Multiple Austrian media outlets are reporting at least nine people have been killed following the shooting at a school in Graz.

Among the dead are believed to be seven pupils and one adult.

The shooter is also dead.

Hospitals in Graz have reportedly been overloaded following an influx of victims from the shooting at BORG Dreierschützengasse.

It is being reported that as many as 30 teachers and pupils have been injured in the rampage which took place at around 10am.

The shooter is said to have opened fire in two classrooms before killing themselves in a toilet.

Here are some pictures we can now show you from Graz as police secure a school where a shooting rampage was carried out this morning.

Austrians are reacting to what has been described as the worst school shooting in the nation’s history.

Student Mark Nolden, 22, told Kronen Zeitung the horrific scenes were like something out of a film

I live across the street in the housing estate, and I know some children who attend this school. This is a huge shock for me. I hope everyone is okay. It’s a situation like something out of a movie, especially the uncertainty.

Graz Mayor Elke Kahr has also confirmed the gunman is among the dead as she visited the scene.

The Styrian Police Department has confirmed several people have been killed following the shooting.

Authorities are yet to declare the exact number of fatalities.

Police also confirmed the situation at BORG Dreierschützengasse is ‘secure’ and no further danger is expected.

All the pupils evacuated from the school following the shooting have been taken to a meeting point where they will be reunited with their parents.

According to Austrain television channel AUF1, the number of people killed in the school shooting at BORG Dreierschützengasse has risen to 11.

Police have yet to confirm any fatalities and are expected to hold a press conference shortly.

AUF1 is also reporting the shooter was believed to have been a bullied pupil but officials are yet to verify this.

A teenage girl has told Austrian media how she ‘heard the shots’ before she managed to escape the school.

The 16-year-old, who was said to be in shock and in tears, told AUF1 that several people had been injured and were being taken to nearby hospitals.

We can now show you a picture of an armed police officer who appears to be speaking to pupils following the school shooting.

Police have carried out a large operation at the school, at BORG Dreierschützengasse, in Graz following reports of a mass shooting earlier this morning.

Police in Austria have confirmed a large-scale operation is underway in Graz following the shooting but have yet to confirm the number of victims.

The Styrian Police Department has confirmed the incident took place at BORG Dreierschützengasse.

Several police cars and elite Cobra units have been deployed to the scene while a police helicopter is hovering overhead.

Police added a meeting point has been set up for parents at the nearby ASKÖ Stadium, home of the Graz Giants American football team

Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung is reporting that eight people have been killed and the number of seriously injured is in double digits after the gunman opened fire in two classrooms.

The shooter was apparently found dead in one of the toilets.

The newspaper said it had spoken to a husband of teacher who barricaded herself inside the classroom with pupils. Some pupils who managed to escape the shooting have been reunited with their parents.

Read our breaking news story on the school shooting…

Hello and welcome to MailOnline’s live coverage following a school shooting in Austria .

Austrian police confirmed that a major operation was underway in the city of Graz on Tuesday morning.

The operation began at 10am after gunshots were heard inside the school, police said.

According to Austrian media, at least five people, including the gunman, have been killed.

Stick with us as we bring you the latest updates on this developing story.