GRAZ: Austria fell silent for a minute on Wednesday in memory of the 10 people killed in a school shooting in Graz, which ended with the gunman taking his own life. The man’s motive remained unclear.
Austria has declared three days of national mourning following what appears to be the deadliest attack in its post-World War II history. At 10 a.m. on Wednesday, marking the moment a day earlier when police were alerted to shots at the BORG Dreierschützengasse high school, the country stopped for a minute of silence.
Hundreds of people lined the central square in Graz, Austria’s second-biggest city. Some laid more candles and flowers in front of the city hall, adding to a growing memorial to the victims. The first candles were laid on Tuesday evening as a crowd gathered on the square, some people hugging each other as they tried to come to terms with the tragedy. Hundreds of people joined Austrian officials at a service Tuesday evening in the Graz cathedral.
Among those on the square Wednesday was Chiara Komlenic, a 28-year-old art history student who finished her exams at the school there.
“I always felt very protected there. The teachers were also very supportive,” she said. “I made lifelong friendships there. It just hurts to see that young girls and boys will never come back, that they experienced the worst day of their lives where I had the best time of my life. I still know a few teachers, it just hurts a lot.”
In the capital, Vienna, the local transport authority had trams, subway trains and buses stop for a minute.
Police said they found a farewell letter and a non-functional pipe bomb when they searched the home of the assailant.
The 21-year-old Austrian man lived near Graz and was a former student at the school who hadn’t completed his studies. Police have said that he used two weapons, a shotgun and a handgun, which he appeared to have owned legally.
