'No one can breathe': Graz residents mourn school shooting victims

While authorities search for answers as to why a 21-year-old gunman killed 10 people at his former high school, the city of Graz is in mourning after the worst mass shooting in Austria's modern history.

"No one can really breathe," Graz resident Jana told CGTN. Hundreds placed flowers and candles outside the high school where the massacre took place.... and also in the town square.

Just 17 minutes elapsed between the first emergency call from the school and the scene being declared safe. Those who survived must live with the horror – their parents dealing with the relief. 

"Unbelievable, at first we didn't even realise what was happening," Eva, a mother of a survivor, told CGTN. "And when my son told me everything on the phone, I just thought: 'Thank God I can hear him, thank God I have his voice in my ear.'"

Other parents are angry. "My daughter is unharmed, that's the good thing. But the rest is just horror. Thanks to our politicians!"

Authorities say the shooter must have passed a psychological test in order to legally acquire both the pistol and the shotgun he used at the shooting. Austria has one of the most heavily armed civilian populations in Europe. Now, some politicians are now calling for tighter gun laws.

Three days of national mourning have now begun in Austria, with the shootings prompting a rare show of solidarity among often bitterly divided political parties.

Meanwhile, investigations over the motive continue. Media reports say the gunman had claimed he was being bullied. According to statistics, one in five Austrian pupils regularly suffer from bullying.

Despite the understandable desire to find out why this happened, experts have urged authorities to release as little information about the gunman's situation as possible, amid concern over copycat attacks.