A former pupil has killed ten people and then himself at a secondary school in the southern Austrian city of Graz, in the worst school shooting in the country's modern history.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner said six of the victims were male and three were female, and that 12 people were also injured. He gave no further details to identify the victims but Austrian media said most were pupils.
This evening, the city's hospital said that one of two critically injured adults had died, taking the number of people killed by the gunman to 10.
The motive for an attack that shocked the nation is not yet known. But police said they assumed the 21-year-old Austrian shooter, who was found dead in a bathroom, was operating alone when he entered the school with two guns and opened fire.
"The rampage at a school in Graz is a national tragedy that has deeply shaken our entire country," Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said, calling it a "dark day in the history of our country".
"There are no words for the pain and grief that we all -all of Austria - are feeling right now."
Mr Stocker travelled to Graz where, at a press conference alongside other officials including Mr Karner, he announced three days of national mourning, with a minute's silence to be held at 10am local time tomorrow.
At the scene, police had set up a perimeter a few hundred meters away from the school, barring access routes with police cars after evacuating the school. Relatives of the victims and pupils were being cared for.
The Salzburger Nachrichten newspaper said in an unconfirmed report that the suspect had been a victim of bullying.
Armed with a pistol and shotgun, he opened fire on pupils in two classrooms, one of which had once been his own, it said.
Police were called to the scene at around 10am after shots were heard at the school. Police and ambulances were on the scene in minutes.
"It is not yet possible to provide any information about the motive. Extensive criminal investigations are still required," a police spokesperson said.
Julia Ebner, an extremism expert at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue think-tank, said the incident appeared to be the worst school shooting in Austria's post-war history, describing such shootings as rare compared to some countries including the United States.
"I am deeply shaken that young people were torn from their lives so abruptly," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, one of a number of foreign leaders who expressed shock at the shooting, said in a message to Mr Stocker.
"We hope that their loved ones can find comfort in the company of their families and friends in this dark hour."
Follow live: Police confirm ten dead in Austria school shooting
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on X: "Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence. My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Austrian people in this dark moment."
Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, with an estimated 30 firearms per 100 persons, according to the Small Arms Survey, an independent research project.
Machine guns and pump action guns are banned, however the ownership of revolvers, pistols and semi-automatic weapons are allowed with official authorisation.
Rifles and shotguns are permitted with a firearms license or a valid hunting licence, or for members of traditional shooting clubs.
School shootings are much more rare in Europe than in the United States but in recent years Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities, that were not connected to terrorism.
In February, a stabbing left a teenager dead and five other people injured in southern Austria, with a 23-year-old Syrian asylum seeker held.
In December 2024, a 19-year-old man stabbed a seven-year-old student to death and injured several others at a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia.
In December 2023, an attack by a student at a university in Prague, in the Czech Republic, left 14 people dead and 25 injured.
A few months earlier that year, a 13-year-old gunned down eight fellow classmates and a security guard at a primary school in downtown Belgrade, Serbia. Six children and a teacher were also injured. The shooter contacted the police, who arrested him.
In 2009, nine pupils, three teachers and three passers-by were killed in a school shooting at Winnenden in southern Germany by a former pupil who then killed himself.
