‘A national tragedy’: Austria reels after Graz school shooting leaves nine dead

A gunman killed at least nine people in a shooting at a high school in Graz, Austria, on June 10, 2025.

Authorities called it a national tragedy and the worst school shooting in Austria’s modern history. The attacker, who is also dead, is thought to have acted alone. Police reports say around 30 more people were hurt in the attack. Austrian media reported that most of those killed were students.

According to the NY Times, The shooting happened around 10:00 AM local time at a high school in northern Graz. Police quickly responded to reports of gunfire and set up a security zone several hundred meters around the school to keep the area safe and help evacuate students and staff. A nearby stadium was used as a temporary meeting place for students and their families. Emergency teams, including specially trained COBRA units (Austria’s version of a SWAT team) and a police helicopter, were sent to the scene.

According to Reuters, reports came out that the shooter as a 22-year-old former student of the school. Reports suggested he had no criminal record but had recently bought at least one of the guns used in the attack—a pistol and a shotgun. News outlets claimed the shooter had been bullied and opened fire in two classrooms, one of which he had once attended.

Austia reeling after school shooting

One report said the shooter was found dead in a school bathroom. Police did not publicly confirm these details, but Austrian newspapers like Kurier and Salzburger Nachrichten widely shared the information.

Chancellor Christian Stocker expressed deep sadness, calling the event a national tragedy that shook the whole country. Graz’s mayor, Elke Kahr, confirmed that students and at least one adult were among the dead. Both Stocker and the interior minister were on their way to Graz after the incident. The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, also shared her condolences and stressed the need for children to feel safe in schools.

The shooting brought attention to Austria’s high rate of civilian gun ownership, about 30 guns for every 100 people, compared to the rarity of mass shootings in the country. While machine guns and pump-action shotguns are banned, revolvers, pistols, and semi-automatic weapons are allowed with permission. Rifles and shotguns require a firearms license, hunting license, or hip in a traditional shooting club. Even though Austrian civilians own many guns, mass shootings are uncommon. A 2024 study by the Rockefeller Institute of Government noted only two similar incidents between 2000 and 2022.

Although incidents are unusual in countries like Austria, this echoes traumatic internal debates seen ‘a fact of life,’ which is a sad take on this.

Previous mass shootings in Austria include the 2020 Vienna attack, where a convicted jihadist killed four and injured 22, and a 1997 incident in Mauterndorf, where a 36-year-old mechanic killed six before dying himself. However, the Graz school shooting was much worse than these past events, making it especially devastating for the country.