« You don’t think at such moments » – DiePresse.com

Graz. The streets are deserted. Not atypical for this time of day in a surrounding area. There is nothing spectacular about Kalsdorf. The 9000-inhabitant market community south of Graz provides a typical picture of a municipality on the edge of an urban metropolitan area. Logistics and warehouses, large industrial companies, historical village gastronomy and young kebab shops, supermarkets. The runway of the Graz Airport borders the municipality, the railway towards Maribor and Graz cuts it through. The S-Bahn is at a quarter of an hour at a quarter of an hour at Graz Central Station.

Here, in a settlement that comes to the railway line at one end, the perpetrator of the Graz killing spree lived together with his mother. The father, who comes from Armenia, does not live at the address. In addition to a farewell letter, the police also found a non -functional pipe bomb and plans for an explosive attack on the BORG that was apparently rejected.

Cobra describes use

However, the information situation around the killing spree is condensed. As the Styrian educational directorate reports, oral Matura tests were held in particular than the shots fell. The first emergency calls were received at 10 a.m. At 10.06 a.m. the first police patrol with heavy protective equipment was on site. Shortly afterwards, the fast intervention group (SIG), the operational group to combat street crime (EGS) and the Cobra commando. The officers were in the building at 10.09 a.m. It was strikingly calm. « We no longer noticed shots, » says Kurt Kornberger, location commander of the Cobra Süd command, at a press conference on Wednesday. In the foyer, Cobra official met a teacher who said that he was in contact with the perpetrator on the third floor. The emergency services then discovered seriously injured and dead on the floor in a classroom.

Find the perpetrator

Even if the desire to help these people immediately, the perpetrator had to be found first to dissuade him from further projects, said Kornberg. Officials then searched the closest premises and came across the perpetrator at 10.13 a.m. on the toilet facility, who had committed suicide.

At 10.17 a.m., the police viewed further rooms to clarify that there are no other perpetrators. The first rescue workers came to school at 10:21 a.m. A talent reconstruction that started on Wednesday is to clarify exactly how the deed. The police cannot say anything about the motif. The farewell messages of the 21-year-old did not give any information. Surveys in the area of ​​the shooter should provide information in the coming days.

Paul Nitsche, religion teacher at the school, was in a class alone at the time of the killing spree. He initially hidden and not realized what was happening outside in the course of the classroom. When it was clear what was going on there, he decided to flee, met the perpetrator on the gang, who was just shooting on a door lock to another classroom, saw two victims on the ground and brought himself to safety over the staircase. « You don’t think at such moments, you just work, » he says, remembering the first unreal thoughts: « This didn’t really happen now. »

« I am a mixture of affected and supervising, but I am doing well in comparison: I have not lost anyone, » he refers to the families and friends of the victims. He himself denies the question of why: « That doesn’t help. » He also does not feel an interest in the perpetrator. The morning after the crime he spent talks with students and teacher colleagues in the Helmut-List-Halle.

Youngest victim 14 years old

A little more is known about the victims the day after. Six students and three students aged 14 to 17 and a teacher were killed. It is Austrians and a Poland. Eleven injuries are still treated in hospitals. They are 15 to 26 years old. Eight of them come from Austria, two from Romania and one from Iran. None of the wounded floats in mortal danger.

The police increased the security measures at the schools in Graz. The authority is in exchange with the educational institutions. « We also sensitized the teaching staff, » said police spokesman Sabri Yorgun about the « press ». In addition, more strips will be on the road at the schools. According to Yorgun, the fact that police officers guard the entrances would be an exaggerated measure. « We don’t want to put psychological pressure on the students here either. It’s just about showing more presence, » says the spokesman.

Graz himself shows up in shock rigid a day after the accident. Around the List Hall, where the students of the affected school were able to find themselves on a voluntary basis from the morning and were looked after by psychologists, crisis intervention teams and emergency chaplains, the beings are still tangible. Students stand together in groups, hug themselves, cry, give each other.

The sea of ​​candles has grown in front of the Borg Dreierschützengasse. A white plush toy also leans on the fence of the school area between bouquets. A sea of ​​lights took place in Vienna late Wednesday afternoon. The city of Graz invites you to a funeral service on Sunday at 6 p.m. on the main square.