'Arthur A': What We Know About Graz, Austria School Mass Shooting Suspect

Austria is reeling after a 21-year-old former student shot and killed 10 people at a high school in Graz on Tuesday. The gunman, who has been named Arthur A. by the local media, was a former student at BORG Dreierschützengasse secondary school. He entered the school with a legally owned shotgun and pistol and began shooting during the third period, as per reports.

He killed nine students, who were aged between 14 to 17 and a 59-year-old teacher before turning the gun on himself inside a toilet. The attack lasted around 17 minutes.

Police say that Arthur had also built a homemade pipe bomb, found later at his home, but he did not use it. A farewell video and letter were sent to his mother minutes before the attack. Austrian media reports that she opened the message 24 minutes later and called police, but by then the shooting had already begun.

Authorities confirmed that Arthur had passed a psychological test and was legally allowed to own both the weapons. Investigators have not identified a clear motive yet. Local media reports that he may have been bullied during his time at school, but officials have not confirmed this.

Former classmates and neighbors described him as a quiet loner. One neighbor said that Arthur "had lived here for five years, but was very reserved. He always had his headphones in, dressed in dark clothes and wore a cap pulled down over his eyes,” Guardian reported.

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Eyewitnesses described chaotic scenes as students were hiding under desks and teachers barricaded doors with chairs. “Suddenly the silence was broken by the sound of bullets,” the school priest and teacher Paul Nitsche told Guardian in a statement, who saw Arthur while he was trying to shoot through a classroom door.

Three days of national mourning began on Wednesday. Flags were lowered, church bells rang, and public transport stopped during a nationwide minute of silence. Outside the school, flowers and candles were placed in memory of the victims.