Courses are canceled for at the very least every week, however college students stored coming to their college on Wednesday morning, the day after a lethal taking pictures there shocked Austria.
They gathered throughout the road from the highschool, in Graz, the place a former pupil killed at the very least 10 individuals on Tuesday, in a spot cordoned off from different mourners, well-wishers and reporters.
They had been struggling, like so lots of their compatriots, to make sense of the type of violence they see on tv from America however by no means anticipated to see in their very own quiet Alpine metropolis.
“We’re simply speechless — this appears to have come from nowhere,” stated Simone Saccon, 20, a college pupil who has spent his life in Graz. He lives close to the varsity, the BORG Dreierschützengasse, and was amongst these gathered outdoors on Wednesday.
“It’s one thing you think about occurs in main cities or within the U.S., however that it will occur right here?” he added.
Austria was a nation in mourning on Wednesday. Black flags flapped atop the general public trams in Graz, a well-to-do metropolis that’s the nation’s second-largest, after Vienna.
At 10 a.m., the trains stopped operating briefly as all of Austria noticed a minute of silence to honor the victims.
There was no additional hazard to the general public, the police had stated, although the authorities confirmed they’d discovered an unexploded pipe bomb on the assailant’s residence. The 21-year-old shooter had left what officers known as a “farewell letter” and a video message to his dad and mom, then returned to the varsity the place he by no means graduated.
He opened fireplace with a handgun and a shotgun earlier than killing himself in a faculty lavatory, in line with the police.
Officers stated that the observe had carried out little to demystify why the younger man, who legally obtained his weapons, had launched into the lethal college taking pictures — one in every of Europe’s worst prior to now decade. Franz Ruf, public safety director on the Austrian Inside Ministry, instructed the tv channel ORF that the letter didn’t appear to incorporate a motive for the assault.
And so the nation, like so many communities throughout the US and around the globe which have endured related tragedy, was left to surprise what had gone improper.
“What’s actually vital now could be to speak, to be silent collectively, to pay attention,” stated Paul Nitsche, 51, a pastor who teaches faith on the college and who was standing on the road in entrance of the mourning space for the scholars.
The Austrian chancellor, Christian Stocker, canceled appointments on Tuesday to journey to Graz and declared three days of nationwide mourning, together with Wednesday’s interval of silence. Residents and political leaders had been struggling to course of the shock.
On Wednesday morning, a headline on the on-line website of Kronen Zeitung, the nation’s largest newspaper, declared: “The day after the rampage: Austria cries with Graz.”
A lot of the victims had been schoolchildren — six ladies and three boys, all aged 14 to 17, in line with the police. One other sufferer, a instructor, died later at a hospital.
Pastor Nitsche was alone in a classroom between classes when he heard the photographs. His first intuition was to cover and wait. “It was as silent as if it was the nighttime,” he stated. “Everybody was taking part in lifeless — sensible.”
After it appeared secure, he stated, he ran out right into a hallway the place he noticed the gunman making an attempt to get right into a locked door by taking pictures at it. As he raced away, he noticed the physique of one of many victims, a woman, and stored on operating till he noticed the police storming in. “So many uniforms may be actually comforting,” he stated.
Outdoors the varsity, makeshift shrines of candles, flowers and stuffed animals lined the perimeter of the varsity. Investigators and firefighters had been nonetheless coming into and exiting the premises, however in any other case the varsity buildings had been darkish and quiet.
Officers canceled college for the rest of the week as they determine the best way to proceed. The summer season break begins in early July, and lots of graduating college students have but to take their ultimate exams earlier than probably occurring to college.
Belkez Halici, 39, who lives throughout from the varsity, was getting ready for work on Wednesday, tears streaming down her face. She had tried to maintain the information from her three kids, however they’d heard about it on social media, she stated, they usually had been upset and scared.
“I’ve at all times stated, colleges right here should not secure,” Ms. Halici stated. “With individuals coming and going, it’s like a shopping mall.”
About The Author
