Austrian neighbours of school shooter recall withdrawn young man

By Francois Murphy

KALSDORF BEI GRAZ, Austria (Reuters) -Neighbours and officials painted the picture of a withdrawn young man who attracted little attention before he achieved international notoriety by shooting dead 10 people at his former school and killing himself in the Austrian city of Graz.

Authorities have so far given virtually no details about the 21-year-old Austrian media have referred to as Arthur A., other than that he was Austrian and failed to complete his studies at the Dreierschützengasse high school in Graz.

In the commuter town of Kalsdorf bei Graz about 15 km (9 miles) from Graz where he lived, residents on his estate of neat, grey three-floor apartment buildings with dashes of orange were stunned to learn the quiet neighbour they barely noticed was behind Austria's first mass school shooting.

"He was totally inconspicuous. He didn't attract any negative attention, nor did he integrate into our community in any way," said Manfred Komericky, mayor of the town near Graz airport and home to around 10,000 people.

The family's letterbox had been taped over by Wednesday afternoon, any trace of their name no longer apparent. Of over a dozen residents spoken to by Reuters, few wanted to speak at all. Some said they had seen the man. None said they knew him.

Neighbours said the suspect lived with his mother in a ground floor apartment at one end of the estate with leafy gardens over which a large concrete grain silo looms. Planes taking off from the airport can be seen in the distance.

Several balconies and gardens on the estate boasted model storks signalling that families had welcomed babies recently.

Komericky said Kalsdorf had around 40 clubs and associations but that the young man had never really been noticed at them.

Austrian newspapers Kronen Zeitung and Heute published pictures of a slight youth with a long fringe they described as the alleged perpetrator, one of which showed him holding a cat.

According to Heute, investigators said he did not have a personal profile on social media. Police declined to comment.

Details of his life after he left school were scarce. Heute said he struggled to find work. Police found a non-functional pipe bomb and a discarded plan for a bomb attack at his home.

Thomas Gasser, 38, a supermarket manager who lived in the building opposite the suspect for years, described him as small and generally decked out in a cap and headphones, covered up.

Contact with the family was minimal, Gasser said.

"It's just that we hardly ever saw them," he explained.

Officials said the suspect opened fire on pupils and staff at the school with a pistol and shotgun before shooting himself in a toilet in the building. Austrian media reported that he felt bullied, though police have not confirmed this.

Police said that the suspect left behind a farewell note and a video message before he entered the school grounds.

Citing investigators, Kronen Zeitung said the man asked forgiveness from his mother in the video while thanking her for looking after him.

The massacre on Tuesday was the bloodiest episode in the postwar history of Graz, and eclipsed a previous nadir: the 2015 killing of three people and injuring of many more by a man who drove his vehicle into a crowded Graz shopping street.

The news that the school shooting suspect lived in Kalsdorf was an unwelcome reminder of those days - because the driver in the vehicle attack also lived in the same Graz suburb, residents said. Contemporaneous media reports confirm this.

Helmut, a 65-year-old pensioner from Kalsdorf, said he was completely shocked by the coincidence. "I don't understand it," he said. "Why do they always come from here?"

(Reporting by Francois MurphyAdditional reporting by John RevillWriting by Dave Graham, Editing by William Maclean)