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Josef GAUTSCH
Classification: Mass murderer
Characteristics:
Spree killer - Revenge
Number of victims: 6
Date of murder:
November 22,
1997
Date of birth: 1961
Victims profile: Wernfried
Gappmayer, 55 / Harald Moser, 39, his wife Gabrielle Artner, 40,
and their daughter Elizabeth, 3 / Setefan Bader, 19, and Irene
Schitter, 22
Method of murder:
Shooting
Location: Mauterndorf, Salzburg, Austria
Status: Committed suicide by shooting himself the same day
On November 22, 1997, Josef Gautsch shot and
killed his ex-wife, her 3-year-old daughter and four other people in a
central Austrian town before turning the gun on himself.
The dead
included the ex-wife's live-in companion and a school principal, who
also served as deputy mayor of the town. The gunman, identified as 36-year-old
mechanic Josef Gautsch, killed himself shortly after the shootings.
Man fatally shoots 6 people in
Austria before killing himself
The Buffalo News
November 22, 1997
Seven people,
including a 3-year-old girl, were killed when a 36-year old man ran amok
with a pistol in the Austrian province of Salzburg, police said Friday.
The man shot dead six people before killing himself when police caught
up with him, they said. They declined to provide details of the other
five victims.
Austria reconsiders gun laws
BBC News
Saturday,
November 22, 1997
The Austrian Interior Minister has called for new gun
laws after the shooting of six people near Salzburg. Speaking on
television, Karl Schloegl said would seek parliamentary approval for
urgently-needed legislation. His remarks came after a man shot and
killed six people before shooting himself.
Joseph Gautsch, 36, a mechanic, began his killing
spree on Thursday evening, shooting dead the headmaster of the village
school at Mauterndorf, just west of Salzburg.
Gautsch then killed the 19-year-old new owner of his
former house, his 22-year-old live-in companion and their three-year-old
daughter, according to officers.
They were killed as they watched TV but
the gunman apparently spared the life of an 18-month-old boy who was
asleep in a cradle.
Gautsch still lived in the same house but was due to
move out by the end of the year. He also fired five pistol shots at a
man whose girlfriend he coveted, but missed him, Austrian state
television reported.
The attack comes in the same week as a civil servant
shot his wife, mother and brother before surrendering to the police
south of Vienna.
Austria tightened its gun control laws
in July in response to previous shootings.
