Austrian authorities revealed that the gunman who carried out Tuesday’s deadly school shooting in Graz had also built a pipe bomb, raising fears the attack could have been much worse. They've also spoken of concerns over potential copycat threats.
Speaking on ORF’s Morgenjournal on Wednesday morning, Franz Ruf, Director General for Public Security at the Ministry of the Interior, confirmed that investigators found a non-functional pipe bomb during a search of the shooter’s home. The device was being examined by experts.
Ruf also said the 21-year-old perpetrator left behind both a digital and handwritten suicide note addressed to his parents. However, the notes reportedly offered no insight into his motive for the killings.
What we know so far
The shooter, a former pupil of the BORG Dreierschützengasse secondary school in Graz, opened fire shortly after 10 am on June 10th, killing ten people and injuring dozens more. According to police, he used a legally acquired pistol and long gun before taking his own life in a school restroom.
Among the dead were nine students aged 15 to 17 and one teacher, who died in the hospital later that evening. Police confirmed the attacker had previously attended the school but did not complete his education. According to Ruf, he had repeated a particular school level several times.
While no manifesto was found, police are now examining the shooter’s electronic devices and social media accounts in an effort to understand his motive. Ruf said interviews with the suspect’s relatives and acquaintances would also form part of the investigation.
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Copycat threats already emerging
Authorities also issued a stark warning about the risk of copycat attacks. Ruf said several bomb threats against other schools in Graz had already been made on Tuesday evening, just hours after the massacre. These threats are being taken seriously, with special police units deployed to respond as needed.
“We have a clear procedure for such situations,” Ruf told ORF, adding that bomb threats have become a growing problem in Austria in recent months.
The Ministry of the Interior has not released details about the nature or credibility of these threats, but said any suspicious activity would be met with heightened police presence.
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Austria mourns the victims
Wednesday marked the beginning of three days of national mourning. A nationwide minute of silence will be observed at 10 am, during which all 900 public transport vehicles operated by Wiener Linien will pause for one minute.
St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna will ring its historic bell, the “Halbpummerin”, to mark the moment. The cathedral has also been draped in black, and a memorial and prayer service was scheduled for 5pm. Government buildings across the country lowered their flags to half-mast, and multiple public events in Styria were cancelled out of respect for the victims.
Chancellor Christian Stocker has called the shooting a “national tragedy” and said the attack had deeply shaken the entire country. “A school must be a place of safety, of future, of trust,” he said.
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More questions than answers
While the police have confirmed the attacker acted alone, the investigation is far from over. The presence of a pipe bomb — even one that was not operational — raises questions about whether more extensive plans had been considered.
The case has sparked renewed scrutiny of Austria’s gun laws, which are among the most liberal in Europe.
As Ruf noted in his interview with ORF, “you can do terrible things with weapons like this in just a few minutes.”
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