Austrian school shooter was likely fan of online shooting games: Investigators

GRAZ, Austria – The 21-year-old man suspected of carrying out Austria’s worst school shooting this week was most likely an introverted fan of online shooting games, criminal investigators said on June 12.

The Austrian man, identified by the local media as Arthur A, killed 10 people before shooting himself at his former high school in the southern city of Graz, sending shockwaves through Austria, which declared three days of national mourning.

Police are still attempting to establish what motivated him, but Mr Michael Lohnegger, head of Styria state’s criminal investigation office, said the man was introverted and that his great passion appeared to be online first-person shooting games.

“He led an extremely withdrawn life, he didn’t want to take part in activities in normal life outside in the real world, he preferred to withdraw into the virtual space,” Mr Lohnegger said.

The authorities said the suspect failed to complete his studies at the school. Local media outlets reported that the man, who lived with his mother on the outskirts of Graz, felt bullied at the school and wanted revenge, though police have not confirmed this.

Neighbours and officials painted the picture of a withdrawn young man who attracted little attention before the shooting.

In the commuter town of Kalsdorf bei Graz where he lived, about 15km from Graz, residents in his estate of neat, grey, three-floor apartment buildings with dashes of orange were stunned to learn that the quiet neighbour they barely noticed was behind

Austria’s first mass school shooting

.

“He was totally inconspicuous. He didn’t attract any negative attention, nor did he integrate into our community in any way,” said Mr Manfred Komericky, mayor of the town near Graz airport and home to around 10,000 people.

The family’s letter box had been taped over by the afternoon of June 11, any trace of their name no longer apparent. Of more than a dozen residents spoken to by Reuters, few wanted to speak at all. Some said they had seen the man. None said they knew him.

Neighbours said the suspect lived with his mother in a ground-floor apartment at one end of the estate with leafy gardens over which a large concrete grain silo looms.

Planes taking off from the airport can be seen in the distance.

Several balconies and gardens on the estate boasted model storks signalling that families had welcomed babies recently.

Mr Komericky said Kalsdorf had around 40 clubs and associations but that the young man had never really been noticed at them.

Austrian newspapers Kronen Zeitung and Heute published pictures of a slight young man with a long fringe whom they described as the alleged perpetrator, with one photo showing him holding a cat.

According to Heute, investigators said he did not have a personal profile on social media.

Police declined to comment.

Details of his life after he left school were scarce. Heute said he struggled to find work. Police found a non-functional pipe bomb and a discarded plan for a bomb attack at his home.

Mr Thomas Gasser, 38, a supermarket manager who lived in the building opposite the suspect’s home for years, described him as small and generally decked out in a cap and headphones, covered up.

Contact with the family was minimal, Mr Gasser said.

“It’s just that we hardly ever saw them,” he explained.

Officials said the suspect opened fire on students and staff at the school with a pistol and shotgun before shooting himself in a toilet in the building.

Police said the suspect left behind a farewell note and a video message before he entered the school grounds.

Citing investigators, Kronen Zeitung said the man asked for forgiveness from his mother in the video while thanking her for looking after him.

The massacre on June 10 was the bloodiest episode in the post-war history of Graz, and eclipsed a previous nadir: the 2015 killing of three people and injuring of many more by a man who drove his vehicle into a crowded Graz shopping street.

The news that the school shooting suspect lived in Kalsdorf was an unwelcome reminder of those days – because the driver in the vehicle attack also lived in the same Graz suburb, residents said. Contemporaneous media reports confirm this.

A 65-year-old pensioner named Helmut, from Kalsdorf, said he was completely shocked by the coincidence. “I don’t understand it,” he said. “Why do they always come from here?” REUTERS