Austrian Police Profile School Shooter as Withdrawn Introvert

By Francois Murphy and Max Schwarz

GRAZ, Austria (Reuters) -Austrian police on Thursday described the 21-year-old man who carried out Austria's worst school shooting as an introvert who had largely withdrawn from the outside world before he carefully planned the attack.

The Austrian identified by local media as Arthur A. killed 10 people on Tuesday before shooting himself at his former high school in the southern city of Graz, sending shockwaves through Austria, which declared three days of national mourning.

Police found discarded plans for a bomb attack and a non-functional pipe bomb during a search of the man's home after the shooting in Graz, capital of the state of Styria.

What motivated the shooting remains unclear, though police said it had been planned down to the last detail.

When addressing a potential motive, Michael Lohnegger, head of Styria's criminal investigation office, said findings indicated that the man was very introverted and that his "great passion" was online first-person shooting games.

"He led an extremely withdrawn life; he didn't want to take part in activities in normal life outside in the real world, he preferred to withdraw into the virtual space," Lohnegger told a press conference.

Lohnegger said the man's closest friend had been questioned and that the shooter had social contacts with fellow online gamers. Police are checking whether he had assistance from other people in the run-up to the crime.

Police said the rampage at the school lasted about seven minutes and that the man shot himself in the head in a toilet about 10 minutes after beginning the attack.

A few minutes earlier, the man entered the school with a rucksack, then went into a bathroom to prepare for his assault.

He put on a weapon belt with a hunting knife, donned shooting glasses and a headset and armed himself with a Glock pistol and sawn-off shotgun, police said.

The man opened fire at random on people on the second and third floors of the school, shooting off the locks to the doors in one of the classrooms he attacked, according to Lohnegger.

Most of the victims were apparently unknown to the shooter, but he did know one of the teachers who died. It was unclear if that fact played a role in her death, police said.

Eleven people were also injured in the attack and the last four in intensive care are no longer intubated and can be transferred to regular treatment.

Police are alert to potential copycat attacks and on Thursday a man caused alarm at Vienna's Technical University by throwing a package into the entrance area and shouting it was going to explode. No threat was identified.

PSYCHOLOGICAL EVALUATION

The school shooter acquired his guns legally in April and May after passing a psychological evaluation required to obtain the necessary permit, and had practised shooting at a gun club since March.

Authorities said the man failed to graduate at the school and Austrian newspaper Kronen Zeitung reported that after dropping out, he attempted to join the army but was deemed psychologically unsuitable due to his introversion.

Local media reported the man, who lived with his mother on the outskirts of Graz, felt bullied at the school and wanted revenge.

"There's no evidence from his private life that he ever expressed any anger or displeasure towards the school, pupils or teaching staff," Lohnegger said.

Neighbours and officials in the commuter town of Kalsdorf bei Graz, where he lived, described a withdrawn, slight man who usually wore a cap and headphones.

Of over a dozen local residents spoken to about the shooter by Reuters, few wanted to talk at all. Some said they had seen him, but none said they knew him.

The man left behind a farewell note and video in which he apologised to his family for his actions and thanked them, but they gave no indication of his motives, police said.

Questions about the bullying allegations at the Dreierschuetzengasse school the man attended were put to its deputy head, Norbert Urabl, on national broadcaster ORF.

"Bullying is a very delicate topic. Bullying occurs on so many levels that it's very difficult to pinpoint the term bullying in this case," he said.

"But the fact is that, if bullying can be triggered, then more sensitivity is urgently needed to recognise bullying processes earlier."

(Reporting by Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich and Francois Murphy, Additional reporting by Madeline ChambersWriting by Dave Graham, editing by Ed Osmond)