The tragedy that took place yesterday in Graz shook Austrian society, the government announced three days of national mourning, BTA reported.. Austrian and foreign journalists arrived in the capital of the Styrian province to get acquainted with the details of the case on the spot.
The magazine “Profil“ published on its website a report from the journalists' conversations with neighbors of the 21-year-old young man who killed 10 people at a school and committed suicide, shocked by the news.
The bomber lived with his mother in an idyllic neighborhood outside the city – with an inconspicuous ground floor apartment, inhabited by them for over five years, a white door, the names and surnames of the two written on the doorbell plate, the article says.
Two neighbors readily provided information about the 21-year-old young man, these were the first conversations they had with journalists that day.
They emphasized how kind the mother was and how inconspicuous her son was, writes “Profil“. A younger woman, herself a mother, recalls: “He was completely withdrawn into himself. He wore large headphones and a backpack. He didn't greet, but he was never unpleasant“. How distant the 21-year-old young man was is also evident from the fact that the neighbor's 18-year-old son had no contact with the future murderer, even though the two, who are almost the same age, had lived next door for over five years. The police raid that shook the neighborhood a few hours before “Profil“'s visit is only evidenced by a small hole in the door.
Another, older neighbor opens the door to her apartment and wants to share something, the article continues: “I pray not only for the victims' relatives, but also for the mother“. She is “very kind“, they often talked through the garden fence while watering the flowers. Not a single word was heard out loud from the apartment.
The young man himself remained in the memories of the elderly lady as thin, short, with dark, long hair that usually covered his face. She is puzzled by the reasons for the act: “Has he been bullied and has he suppressed everything deep inside for years?“. According to “Profil“ The perpetrator entered the school in the 2019/20 school year and had to repeat the second year of high school twice.
While the neighbor talks to the journalists, the perpetrator's mother, accompanied by her older son, quickly fades into the background and the two disappear into their apartment, not opening the door to the journalists' calls.
In the back of the apartment building there are small gardens, continues “Profil“, which belong to the apartments on the ground floor. Neighbors say that a man lives there whose home overlooks the garden of the bomber, who lost a child during the shooting - one of the murdered schoolgirls.