After one of the worst shooting rampages in Austria’s history, the European country has been “shattered,” with bishops offering prayers and support to victims’ families. Source: OSV News.
The shooting happened yesterday morning local time at the Dreierschützengasse high school in Austria’s second-biggest city, Graz. Nine people, mostly teenagers, were killed by a suspected perpetrator, who killed himself at the scene. Six female and three male victims were identified. Twelve people were injured.
Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl and Auxiliary Bishop Johannes Freitag of Graz-Seckau said in statement: “Our deepest sympathy goes out to the pupils, the teaching staff and their families.”
In a post on X yesterday, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn said: “Above all the shock, grief, and anxiety, there is one big question: ‘Why?’” adding that “we will probably never find a satisfactory answer.”
In an initial reaction, Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker spoke of a “national tragedy” that has shaken the entire country.
“There are no words for the pain and grief that we all – all of Austria – are feeling right now,” Mr Stocker said.
He said that young people had suddenly been torn from their lives, which they still had ahead of them and that his thoughts were with all those affected, especially the families and parents who had lost their child.
“What happened today affects us all – as people, as parents, as a society,” Mr Stocker said.
The suspect – a 22-year-old former pupil – saw himself as a victim of bullying and claimed to act out of revenge, according to a report in the Austrian Kronen Zeitung newspaper. The weapons used, a pistol and a shotgun, were legally owned by the shooter.
A three-day national mourning period will be observed across Austria, Mr Stocker said.
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Austria mourns 9 victims of high school shooting (KNA via OSV News)
