Austrians hold vigil to mourn 10 victims of school shooting

Thousands of people in Austria have held a candlelight vigil for the victims of a school shooting in which 10 people were killed.

Police said the 21-year-old suspect, a former student, took his own life in a school bathroom shortly after the gun attack in Graz on Tuesday - the deadliest in the country's recent history.

In a statement on Wednesday, police said they found a "farewell letter" and a non-functional pipe bomb during a search of the suspect's home. Authorities have not confirmed the gunman's motive.

The incident, which left a further 12 people injured, took place at Dreierschützengasse secondary school in the north-west of the city.

Six females and three males were killed in the attack, and a seventh female died later in hospital. Austria's APA news agency has reported that seven of those killed were pupils.

At the vigil on Tuesday night, Graz residents said they wanted to turn the city's main square into a sea of candles, and that is what they did.

In the whispering silence, thousands of mostly young people gathered over the course of the evening, alone or clutching the arms or shoulders of their friends. They lit candles, cried, or stood for a while in prayer or contemplation.

Then they slowly came forward to hand candles to volunteers who arranged them carefully on the steps of the fountain.

The Archbishop Johann fountain is known as the heart of the old town of Graz, in front of the city hall. On Tuesday night it became a symbol of the grief, and solidarity, of the people of Austria.

"When you hear about it, you have so much sympathy for the people, maybe you could have known someone," Felix Platzer, a passerby at the vigil, told the Reuters news agency.

"This is an example of solidarity and you grieve together and together it is easier to cope," he added.