Bomb attack plans found at suspect’s home

Abandoned plans for a bomb attack have been found at the home of the suspected gunman in a school shooting in Austria, police have said.

Police in the city of Graz also found a non-functional pipe bomb, and a “farewell” letter and video during the search, they said in a statement.

Ten people were killed in the attack at the secondary school on Tuesday – the deadliest in the country’s recent history.

The suspect, a 21-year-old former student at the school, took his own life in a school bathroom shortly after the attack, according to police. Authorities have not yet drawn any conclusions on the gunman’s possible motive.

The incident, which left a further 11 people injured, took place at Dreierschützengasse secondary school in the north-west of the city.

Six females and three males were killed in the attack, and a seventh female later died in hospital.

A teacher and nine students aged between 14 and 17 were among the victims, police said. One of the victims was a Polish citizen, while the other nine were Austrian citizens.

Three days of mourning were declared in Austria following the attack, and a nationwide minute’s silence was held on Wednesday at 10:00 local time (08:00 GMT) in memory of the victims. The Austrian flag has been lowered to half-mast on all public buildings.

After the minute’s silence in Graz’s main square, one woman, Tores, told BBC News that she knew one of the boys who had died. He was 17.

“I’ve know this family for a long time, including the son of the family, and knew that he attended that school. I rang immediately, to ask if everything is OK. Then they let me know at midday, that the boy was one of those slaughtered,” she said.

Police said the suspect was born in Styria and lived with his single mother, who was also Austrian, in the Graz-Umgebung District.

They added that his father, of Armenian origin, had not lived with them since his parents’ separation.

Current information suggests the shooter legally owned the two guns used in the attack – a pistol and a shotgun – and had a firearms licence, police said.

The gunman, who has not yet been named, did not graduate from the school, Interior Minister Gerhard Karner told a news conference on Tuesday.

Police also confirmed the gunman was not known to police before the attack.

They have increased security measures around schools in the city.