In the state of emergency – Amok: a week that our country has changed

In the beginning there was a reader call in the editorial team “Steirerkrone”. “25 patrol cars racing from the State Police, I’ve never seen that before!” Almost parallel to the first info from Vienna: Amok -Alarm! It is Tuesday, June 10, 2025, shortly after 10 a.m. The horror follows its course.

Tuesday, 10.30 am :: State of emergency in Graz. The perpetrator has been dead for a long time, but the situation is still unclear. The Borg Dreierschützengasse has been dropped off. Smart rumors buzz: are there two perpetrators? Falling shots in the nearby primary school? The number of young people killed in two classes will increase to nine in the coming hours. Parents fear, breathe, break down.

Tuesday, 3 p.m. The first press conference with police and politicians. The size of the attack is stunned, the faces are petrified. The first details of the perpetrator are known. The government orders three days of state subsidies.

Tuesday, 4 pm :: A wave of solidarity runs through the city: the Red Cross calls for donations in Graz and 600 people. Some of them wait until well after midnight.

Tuesday 6 pm :: The LKH University Clinic Graz reports: A teacher (59) has succumbed to her serious injuries. There are now eleven dead (with the shooter).

Tuesday 9 p.m. After two moving funeral services in the Graz Cathedral and in the St. Vinzenz -Church near the school, there is a sea of ​​lights on the central square. Like ten years ago after the murder ride of Alen R., who had killed three people. A déjà vu that nobody wanted.

Wednesday, 7.30 am :: Pupils and teachers of the Borg meet in the Helmut-List-Halle, under the supervision of the crisis intervention team, besieged by a large crowd of media. Religious teacher Paul Nitsche saw the murderer during his escape, he is interviews, takes pressure. Spokesperson for the school Ennio Resnik requires restraint.

Wednesday, 10.00 am :: Austria stands still for a minute of pleasure. The ORF interrupts its program, the Viennese lines stop their vehicles. 24 hours have passed since the shots have fallen in Borg.

Wednesday, 5:45 pm :: Federal President Alexander van der Bellen is in Graz and enters the condolence book. He says in the direction of the victims, “We will never forget you!” The brother of a murdered 15-year-old also speaks: “We miss you. We love you.” A surviving student says with a solid voice: “Our answer is love.”

Thursday 11.30 am :: The police reported in a press conference about the crime scene how cold-blooded and structured the 21-year-old had prepared and then followed. He chose his victims without distinction. A short time later it becomes known: the Styrian was psychologically unsuitable for the armed forces, but he was legal.

Thursday 6 pm: The mourning of the state ends with a memorial service in the cathedral of St. Stephen in Vienna. Archbishop Franz Lackner recognizes a “noticeable merger” after the amoctat.

Friday, 3 p.m. The first 15-year-old Hanna is adopted at the Bosniaken Association in Graz, hundreds coming. The victims get names and faces: Leo, Lea, Kaid, Leonie, Anna Bella. The pain that speaks from the funeral advertisements is difficult to wear. However, it will be known: the school will remain closed for another week.

Saturday 12 pm: Good news from the hospitals: all six injured young people are in the normal department, in the UKH Graz there are three of the five amok victims in intensive care. The work of the crime scene at school has ended. Researchers must ask more than 100 witnesses and watch 800 uploaded videos, plus a lot of data material from the perpetrator. Important reports (forensic medicine, ballistics) are being treated.

Many questions are still open. One thing is certain: a scar remains – in Graz, in this country.