A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Ten people were killed this morning after a gunman opened fire at a school in the southern Austrian city of Graz. Police say the shooter was among the dead in what they believe was a suicide. NPR's Rob Schmitz joins us now from Berlin. Rob, so what do we know right now?
ROB SCHMITZ, BYLINE: Well, A, earlier today at 10 in the morning local time, police in Graz responded to reports of gunfire at a secondary school on the outskirts of the city. A gunman had opened fire on students. He killed nine people. Six victims were female, and there were three male victims. He also injured 12 others. People did not - the police did not clarify the age of the dead or how many were students or teachers. Minutes after the shooting started, police arrived and evacuated the school. In all, there were 300 police officers that were at the scenes, 160 paramedics. Police say they later found the suspected shooter dead from an apparent self-inflicted gun wound in a school restroom.
MARTÍNEZ: What do we know about the shooter?
SCHMITZ: Well, police say the shooter is a 21-year-old man who was a former student at the school but did not graduate, and they believe he acted alone. They added that he brought two guns with him to the school, a rifle and a handgun. Police did not release the suspect's name or any other details about him, only that he was not known to police and that he did have a license for the guns.
MARTÍNEZ: He did have a license. So guns are legal in Austria.
SCHMITZ: Yeah, they're legal. In fact, Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe, which compared to the U.S. is far from comparable. But there are an estimated 30 firearms per 100 people in Austria. Machine guns and pump action guns are banned, but the ownership of revolvers, pistols and even semiautomatic weapons are allowed as long as you go through a permitting and licensing process. And as I mentioned, the shooter in this tragedy did have licenses for both guns he used today.
MARTÍNEZ: OK. How are people in Austria reacting?
SCHMITZ: Well, as you can imagine, it's just shock and horror. Austria is a small, mountainous country with 9 million people. Graz is the country's second biggest city to Vienna. Shootings like this are very rare. Here's Austrian chancellor Christian Stocker, who attended a press conference this afternoon in Graz.
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CHANCELLOR CHRISTIAN STOCKER: (Non-English language spoken).
SCHMITZ: And A, Stocker is saying here that it's a dark day for the country, a day he called a national tragedy. He said, all schools should be places where everyone feels safe. Solving conflicts with violence must never be a part of our lives, he said. Additionally, Chancellor Stocker called for a national mourning period of three days.
MARTÍNEZ: OK, and police in Graz said they're going to continue to investigate the shooter's motive. What's next in this?
SCHMITZ: Well, as you mentioned, you know, there's still a lot of unanswered questions, including the shooter's motive and more details about him. On a national level, there could very well be calls to restrict gun ownership. We've seen similar responses to other shooting events here in Europe. But for now, Austria, one of Europe's safest countries, is coping with a terrible tragedy and processing what all of this means.
MARTÍNEZ: All right, that's Central Europe correspondent Rob Schmitz joining us from Berlin. Rob, thank you very much.
SCHMITZ: Thanks.
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