Several dead in school shooting in Austrian city of Graz

Several people were killed in a shooting at a school in the Austrian city of Graz on Tuesday, police said.

Police did not say how many people died or provide information on the victims. Some local media outlets reported that there were eight deaths, while others put the toll at nine or 10.

There was no immediate information on the number of people injured.

Police said they believed that the killings were the work of a lone shooter, with Austrian media reporting he took his own life.

Chancellor Christian Stocker is on his way to the school in Austria’s second-largest city, a spokeswoman said. Interior Minister Gerhard Karner was also expected at the scene.

“The situation is secure. There is no further danger,” the police wrote on the social media platform X.

Police said the shots were fired at an upper secondary school around 10 am (0800 GMT), with special units quickly responding to the scene. Students at such schools are typically 14 years and older.

The building was evacuated, with students and teachers escorted to a safe meeting place.

Parents and uninjured students were being housed in nearby buildings and cared for by crisis intervention teams, the city said.

In Brussels, a spokeswoman for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the killings “absolutely horrible and tragic.”

“We would like to offer our deepest condolences to the families of the victims and the entire city Graz. We stand together in mourning and while we seek clarity in the wake of this horrible event in a school,” she said.

Graz is home to around 300,000 people.