Three days of national mourning in Austria, following the armed attack in the city of Graz. “A national tragedy that deeply shocked us all”

Austria declared three days of national mourning following the bloody attack that took place on Tuesday in a school in Graz, Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker announced, as well as a minute of silence on Wednesday at 10:00, according to The Guardian.

Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker said today has marked “a dark day in our country's history”, calling the armed attack in the Graz school “a national tragedy that deeply shocked us.”

Stocker also said that he left it “speechless” that a school, meant to be a safe space for all, was “shaken by such an act of violence.”

Ten people died in the armed attack in a school in Graz, the second largest city of Austria. Another 12 people were injured, some of them being in serious or even critical condition.

According to the authorities, the suspect is a 21-year-old, who was a student of the school, which he did not graduate, but Austrian citizen from the Graz-Rumgebung district, without known criminal records.

The young man entered the school armed with two weapons, a gun and a rifle, for which he had the most likely permit. After the armed attack, he committed suicide.

The worst attack in the history of Austria

Two other similar incidents have previously taken place in schools in Austria. On May 5, 1997, a 15-year-old student shot a 48-year-old teacher and seriously injured another teacher in a secondary school in Zöbern, Lower Austria.

He was sentenced to eight years in prison.

On May 9, 2018, an 18-year-old injured a student with a rifle in a federal secondary school in Mistelbach, Lower Austria.

He was sentenced to six years in prison and admitted to a psychiatric hospital.