GRAZ, Austria — The previous pupil who killed 9 college students and a instructor at a college in Austria after which took his personal life deliberate the attack intimately, however he seems to have shot his victims at random and investigators nonetheless have not been in a position to confirm his motive, officers mentioned Thursday.
The 21-year-old had left the BORG Dreierschützengasse highschool in Graz three years in the past, breaking off his research after attending for 3 years, police mentioned. They mentioned they knew of no private connection between the gunman and the scholars he shot, however that one of many two lecturers he shot had as soon as taught him. They had been nonetheless investigating whether or not that was an element.
The assault prompted Austria to declare three days of national mourning, and huge numbers of candles have been laid in Graz’s principal sq. and out of doors the college.
The assailant, an Austrian who lived together with his mom close to Graz and whom officers have declined to determine, used a Mercury double-barreled shotgun and a Glock 19 handgun within the taking pictures. Michael Lohnegger, the pinnacle of Styria province’s felony police workplace, mentioned that he arrived on the faculty Tuesday morning with a backpack containing the weapons, and placed on gear together with taking pictures glasses and a headset in a rest room earlier than beginning a roughly seven-minute taking pictures spree.
He opened fireplace indiscriminately on the constructing’s third ground earlier than taking pictures open the locked door of a fourth-floor classroom and once more firing indiscriminately, Lohnegger advised a information convention. Lohnegger mentioned that he had sufficient ammunition to proceed taking pictures and it was unclear why he hadn’t; the assailant then returned to the toilet and shot himself fatally within the head.
A search of his dwelling uncovered a farewell letter and video, which Lohnegger mentioned added as much as “an apology directed to his household for the crime and a basic thank-you,” however provided no “indication for a motive.”
In addition they discovered a handwritten observe that confirmed he had deliberate the assault “right down to the smallest element” — setting out how he would proceed, however giving no date for the crime. It prompt that he had lacked sufficient time to construct a completely purposeful pipe bomb, and investigators discovered one which would not have labored.
Lohnegger mentioned an image had emerged of “a really introverted particular person” who largely did not participate in real-world actions, and that his nice ardour was collaborating in on-line first-person shooter video games.
“However even right here, there isn’t a info from his private environment that he ever expressed any anger or resentment towards the college, college students or lecturers,” he added. The person had no earlier police document and “there have been undoubtedly no specific issues with him at this faculty.”
The shooter was in unspecified vocational coaching on the time of the assault, investigators mentioned.
He had purchased the shotgun legally in Graz in early April, and the handgun from one other store within the metropolis in late Might. He had a license to personal weapons that required a report from a psychological knowledgeable, which apparently was produced in March.
Beginning in March, he took half in taking pictures observe 5 occasions at a taking pictures membership in Graz, utilizing a employed firearm, Lohnegger mentioned.
The slain college students had been six women and three boys aged between 14 and 17. Eleven individuals had been wounded within the assault, and authorities mentioned on Wednesday that their lives weren’t at risk.
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Related Press author Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.