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.
