UNITED NATIONS, June 11 (NNN-XINHUA) — UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemns Tuesday’s school shooting in Graz, Austria, said his spokesman.
The secretary-general is deeply shocked and saddened by the school shooting and strongly condemns “this senseless act of violence,” said Stephane Dujarric, the spokesman.
Guterres extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims, the people of Graz and the government of Austria. He wishes a swift and full recovery to all those injured, said the spokesman.
At least 10 people were killed and many others wounded in the school shooting in Austria’s second-largest city of Graz. The gunman, a 21-year-old former student of the school, took his own life.
Austria’s President Alexander Van der Bellen said: “This horror cannot be put into words. What happened today in a school in Graz, hits our country right in the heart. These were young people who had their whole lives ahead of them. A teacher who accompanied them on their way.”
He said there was “nothing at this moment that can alleviate the pain that the parents, grandparents, siblings and friends of those murdered are feeling”.
Austria’s Chancellor Christian Stocker, who rushed to the scene with the Interior Minister Gerhard Karner, called it “a national tragedy, that had shaken the entire country.” He said there were no words to describe “the pain and grief that we all – the whole of Austria – is feeling”.
Three days of mourning have been declared in Austria. Flags on the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, where President van der Bellen has his office, will fly at half-mast. — NNN-XINHUA