A 21-year-old Austrian man, who carried out a mass shooting at a school in Graz on Tuesday, appears to have acted according to a meticulous plan, investigators revealed on Thursday.
The attacker entered the school building at 9:43 a.m., using an official entrance and made his way to the third floor, where he occupied a toilet and equipped himself with a gun belt, a shooting visor and a headset. He armed himself with a pistol and a rifle, the stock of which had been sawed off.
At 9:57 a.m., the seven-minute mass shooting began. The man proceeded to the second floor, firing randomly at a fifth-grade class. He then returned to the third floor, burst into a classroom and opened fire on the students present. After that, he retreated to the toilet, where he took his own life. The first police unit to arrive at the scene, at 10:06 a.m., no longer detected any gunfire.
During a search of the premises, investigators found a farewell letter and a video in which the perpetrator apologized to his family, but provided no clues about the motive. Handwritten notes confirmed that the attack was meticulously planned. The reclusive man had previously practiced shooting and, in the spring, legally acquired two weapons.
The State Criminal Police of Styria has set up an investigation team, which will interview numerous witnesses and analyze all evidence in the coming weeks. The possibility of a co-perpetrator is also being investigated, the police said.