Vienna synagogue shooting: Three dead, more injured in terrorist attack

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A terrorist is still on the run after police shot dead an ‘ISIS’ gunman and arrested a third who opened fire on revellers during Vienna’s final night before lockdown.

At least four people were killed and 14 others injured after six shootings near a synagogue in the city starting from 8pm local time. 

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said today one attacker, who was heavily armed and wearing an explosive belt, was an Islamic State sympathiser.

A huge manhunt involving 1,000 security personnel has been launched to find the attacker on the run, with neighbouring countries offering assistance.

Meanwhile one of the men was shot dead by police after the victims – two men and one woman – were killed during the rampage.

A police officer was also shot and seriously injured. Vienna mayor Michael Ludwig said 15 people were admitted to hospital, seven with serious injuries.

The rampage came on the final evening before Austria went into lockdown amid rising coronavirus rates, with bars and restaurants in the country closed from midnight and people flocking to enjoy one last night of freedom.

‘We experienced an attack yesterday evening from at least one Islamist terrorist,’ Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said, adding the attack was an attempt to weaken or divide Austria’s democratic society.

He said: ‘Austria for more than 75 years has been a strong democracy, a mature democracy, a country whose identity is marked by values and basic rights, with freedom of expression, rule of law, but also tolerance in human coexistence. Yesterday’s attack is an attack on just these values.’

Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said: ‘It is of course a very tense security situation, especially in the federal capital Vienna.

‘While we pursue them, they are very well equipped. So automatic weapons, very professionally prepared. It is definitely a terrorist attack.

‘There are now 15 victims who are wounded and are currently being treated in the hospitals. There is a policeman who was shot – thank God, not in mortal danger. The situation is still relatively confusing.

‘We can’t really say anything about the background (to the attack). An anti-Semitic background cannot of course be ruled out, especially because of the location where this terrorist attack started.

‘What we know for sure is that there are several suspects, one of whom has so far been eliminated, but some information is still on its way and the danger has therefore not yet been completely averted.’

The ‘Islamist’ gunmen attacked six locations in central Vienna, starting outside the main synagogue.

Witnesses described the men firing into crowds in bars with automatic rifles, as many people took advantage of the last evening before a nationwide curfew was introduced because of Covid-19.

Police confirmed on Tuesday three civilians were killed in the attacks – two men and one woman – with 15 others wounded, including a police officer.

Police sealed off much of the historic centre of the city overnight, urging the public to shelter in place.

Many sought refuge in bars and hotels, while public transport in the old town was shut and police scoured the city.

Nehammer said the home of the known assailant had been searched and video material seized. Vienna’s police chief declined to provide details on the attacker’s identity, citing potential endangerment of the investigation.

Shocking videos circulated on social media of a gunman running down a cobblestone street shooting and shouting.

One showed a man gunning down a person outside what appeared to be a bar on the street housing the synagogue.

Nehammer urged Vienna residents to remain in their homes and keep away from all public places or public transport today. He said children would not be expected at school on Tuesday in Vienna.

Czech police said they had started random checks on the country’s border with Austria following Monday’s attack.

‘Police are carrying out random checks of vehicles and passengers on border crossings with Austria as a preventive measure in relation to the terror attack in Vienna,’ the police tweeted.

Vienna police urged people to avoid all open spaces and public transport in the city. They also said trams and buses were not stopping and urged social media users not to post videos of the police operation, so as not to endanger officers.

Photos and videos from the scene show police officers searching restaurants, cars and people as part of the manhunt.

Oskar Deutsch, the head of the Jewish community in Vienna, said the shooting took place in the street where the city’s main synagogue is located but that it wasn’t clear whether the house of worship had been targeted.

The synagogue was already closed at the time of the shooting, Deutsch tweeted. A neighbouring restaurant was also closed.

Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister said he saw at least one person fire shots at people sitting outside bars in the street below his window.

‘They were shooting at least 100 rounds just outside our building,’ Hofmeister said. All these bars have tables outside. This evening is the last evening before the lockdown,’ he added.

‘As of midnight, all bars and restaurants will be closed in Austria for the next month and a lot of people probably wanted to use that evening to be able to go out.’

‘It sounded like firecrackers, then we realised it was shots,’ said one witness quoted by the public broadcaster ORF.

A shooter had ‘shot wildly with an automatic weapon’ before the police arrived and opened fire, the witness added.

Footage believed to be taken near the scene showed people ducking and weaving as they ran for cover, with shots ringing out.

Reacting to the attack, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: ‘I am deeply shocked by the terrible attacks in Vienna tonight. The UK’s thoughts are with the people of Austria – we stand united with you against terror.

Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted: ‘Deeply shocked and saddened by the incident that has taken place in Vienna this evening. My thoughts are with everyone who has been affected and we stand ready to support in any way we can.’

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed Europe would not bow to terrorists following the shootings in Vienna on Monday in which at least two people including one attacker died and several more were injured.

‘We French share the shock and sorrow of the Austrian people following the attack in Vienna,’ Macron tweeted in both French and German. 

‘After France, it is a friendly nation that has been attacked. This is our Europe. Our enemies must know who they’re dealing with. We will concede nothing.’

US President Donald Trump said in a tweet ‘our prayers are with the people of Vienna after yet another vile act of terrorism in Europe.’

‘These evil attacks against innocent people must stop. The U.S. stands with Austria, France, and all of Europe in the fight against terrorists, including radical Islamic terrorists.’

Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden condemned what he called a ‘horrific terrorist attack,’ adding, ‘We must all stand united against hate and violence.’

Germany’s foreign ministry said Monday ‘we cannot give in to hate that is supposed to divide our societies’ following shootings in Austrian capital Vienna that left two dead, including one attacker, and several injured.

‘Even if we can’t yet foresee the extent of the terror, our thoughts are with the wounded and the victims in these difficult hours,’ the ministry wrote on Twitter, calling the news from neighbouring Austria. 

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said there was ‘no room for hatred and violence in our common European home,’ while his foreign minister Luigi Di Maio tweeted that ‘Europe must react’. 

Austrian public broadcaster ORF cited witnesses saying several shots were first fired shortly after 8pm local time.

Another Austrian newspaper reported the attack was on the street that houses the city’s main synagogue.

In 1981, two people were killed and 18 injured during an attack by two Palestinians at the same Vienna synagogue. In 1985, a Palestinian extremist group killed three civilians in an attack at the airport.

In recent years, Austria has been spared the sort of large-scale attacks seen in Paris, Berlin and London.

In August, authorities arrested a 31-year-old Syrian refugee suspected of trying to attack a Jewish community leader in the country’s second city Graz. The leader was unhurt.

The attack comes just four days after a knife-wielding Tunisian man beheaded a woman and killed two other people in Nice, France before being shot by police.

Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, allegedly beheaded Nadine Devillers, 60, slit the throat of sexton Vincent Loques, 55, and stabbed mother-of-three Simone Barreto Silva, 44, to death in the horrifying attack.

On October 16, history teacher Samuel Paty was decapitated for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a civics class discussion on free speech on October 16.

He became the subject of an online hate campaign over his choice of lesson material – the same images which unleashed a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago.

The father of one of Paty’s pupils, who started the social media campaign even though his daughter was not in class when the cartoons were shown, is among seven people charged over the attack.

He had exchanged messages with the killer, 18-year-old Chechnya-born Abdullakh Anzorov, via WhatsApp in the days leading up to the murder.

Ricard said two teenagers – aged 14 and 15 – were also among the those being prosecuted for their part in a group who shared €300-350 (£270-£315) offered by the killer to help identify Paty.

The pair stayed with Anzorov for more than two hours waiting for the 47-year-old father of one even after the killer told them he wanted to ‘humiliate and strike’ Paty over the Muhammad caricatures, seen as offensive by many Muslims.

Anzorov decapitated Paty with a knife and tweeted an image of the teacher’s severed head on Twitter before he was shot dead by police.

Timeline of terror: How Europe has been decimated by extremist attacks in recent years   

October 29 2020 – Nice stabbing

A woman was beheaded and three other people killed in a knife attack at Nice Notre-Dame Basilica on October 29.

Brahim Aoussaoui, 21, allegedly beheaded Nadine Devillers, 60, slit the throat of sexton Vincent Loques, 55, and stabbed mother-of-three Simone Barreto Silva, 44, to death in the horrifying attack. 

Aoussaoui transited through Italy last month en route to France. 

During the attack last week, Aoussaoui arrived in Nice at around 6.30am via the railway station, where he quickly changed his clothes.

CCTV then showed him arriving in the church at 8.30am and staying there for nearly half an hour. 

French anti-terror prosecutors said Aoussaoui attacked worshippers in the heart of the Mediterranean resort city with a foot-long blade.  

October 16 2020 – Beheading of Samuel Paty in France

History teacher Samuel Paty was decapitated for showing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a civics class discussion on free speech on October 16.

He became the subject of an online hate campaign over his choice of lesson material – the same images which unleashed a bloody assault by Islamist gunmen on the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo five years ago.

The father of one of Paty’s pupils, who started the social media campaign even though his daughter was not in class when the cartoons were shown, is among seven people charged over the attack. 

He had exchanged messages with the killer, 18-year-old Chechnya-born Abdullakh Anzorov, via WhatsApp in the days leading up to the murder.

Ricard said that two teenagers – aged 14 and 15 – were also among the those being prosecuted for their part in a group who shared €300-350 (£270-£315) offered by the killer to help identify Paty.

The pair stayed with Anzorov for more than two hours waiting for the 47-year-old father of one even after the killer told them he wanted to ‘humiliate and strike’ Paty over the Muhammad caricatures, seen as offensive by many Muslims.

Anzorov decapitated Paty with a knife and tweeted an image of the teacher’s severed head on Twitter before he was shot dead by police.

October 12 2020 – Zagreb shooting 

Danijel Bezuk, 22, fired shots at a Croatian government building using an assault rifle.

Bezuk wounded a police officer in the attack before taking his own life.   

October 4 2020 – Dresden stabbing 

One German tourist was stabbed to death and another injured in an attack in Dresden on October 4.  

Abdullah AHH, 20 – a young Syrian ISIS supporter – was arrested.

He was previously  jailed for two years and nine months in 2018 as an 18-year-old and was released from jail just five days before he allegedly attacked and wounded the visitors from western Germany in downtown Dresden.

The victims, one aged 53 and the other 55, were German men from the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia on vacation in Dresden, according to the police.

They were severely injured in the knife attack and the 55-year-old later died.

September 25 2020 –  Stabbing in Paris outside the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine

Two people were stabbed with a meat cleaver in Paris on September 25 this year.

The attack happened near the former offices of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, where Islamist militants carried out a deadly attack in 2015. 

The September attack was dubbed an ‘act of Islamist terrorism’ by France’s interior minister and two suspects were arrested separately shortly after the stabbing.

Police arrested two men – a ‘main perpetrator’ and another suspect – after one was spotted with blood dripping from his clothes near the Opera Bastille. The other was stopped at a Metro station.

The main suspect is said to be an 18-year-old called Ali, who was known to the police, while the second man was described as a 33-year-old Algerian.

Three others were also later detained in relation to the attack, a judicial source said.

February 2 2020 – Streatham stabbing  

‘Knife-obsessed’ terrorist Sudesh Amman, 20, was shot dead by police after stabbing two people in Streatham in February. 

He went on a rampage in south London, stabbing a man in his 40s in the stomach and a female cyclist in her 50s in the back, though both survived.

Amman, from Harrow, was automatically released from prison just a few days before the attack. 

He was jailed for three years and four months in December 2018 after he pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing terrorist documents.

 The then-18-year-old fantasised about carrying out a terror attack with a blade or with acid while riding a moped and also shared Al Qaeda propaganda on a WhatsApp group used by his family.

Wearing a fake suicide vest, Amman stole a £3.99 blade from a convenience store and stabbed the man, in his 40s, in the stomach before knifing a female cyclist, in her 50s, in the back.

Armed police were on the scene within minutes, having been following him because they suspected he was going to launch a terrorist attack imminently. After he failed to stop, Amman was shot dead outside a Boots chemist.

After the rampage, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the government would announce further plans for ‘fundamental changes to the system for dealing with those convicted of terrorism offences’ on Monday.

A Whitehall source claimed he was released despite concerns because the law didn’t give them the power to keep him in jail.

November 29, 2019 – London Bridge stabbing 

Terrorist Usman Khan, 28, killed Cambridge University graduates Saskia Jones, 23, and Jack Merritt, 25, during a prisoner rehabilitation event near London Bridge on November 29 last year.

Khan, who was armed with two knives and wore a fake suicide vest, was tackled by members of the public with a narwhal tusk, a decorative pike and fire extinguisher.

The attacker, who had been living alone in Stafford, was then shot dead by police on London Bridge.

October 9, 2019 – Halle synagogue shooting

Anti-Semite Stephan Balliet, 28, allegedly shot dead Jana Lange, 40, who witnessed him struggling to get into a synagogue in 2019.

He also shot 20-year-old football fan Kevin S, who had been working at a building site nearby, a court heard.

He is also accused of repeatedly trying but failing to force his way into the synagogue with 52 worshippers inside.

October 3, 2019 – Paris police headquarters stabbing

Police employee Mickael Harpon, 45, stabbed four colleagues to death after it was revealed he openly praised the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

Harpon left headquarters only to return with an oyster knife and a 13-inch kitchen knife, slitting the throat of at least one of his victims. He was shot dead by a policeman.

Computer expert Harpon had caused serious concern among colleagues as far back as 2015 when he defended the massacre of 12 people at the Charlie Hebdo newspaper by two brothers vowing allegiance to Al-Qaeda. 

August 10, 2019 – Bærum mosque shooting 

A gunman injured one man when he opened fire on the Al-Noor Islamic Centre, just outside of Oslo.

Philip Manshaus, a 21-year-old Norwegian, was sentenced to 21 years in prison for terrorism and murder.

He is also accused of killing his younger stepsister while she slept in her bed. She suffered a gunshot to her chest and three bullets to her head.  

June 2, 2019 – Murder of Walter Luebcke

Walter Luebcke, who was known to have pro-migrant views, was found dead at his home in the city of Kassel on June 2, 2019.

Luebcke – who was a politician and colleague of Chancellor Angela Merkel – had been shot dead at close range by a single shot to the head. 

An autopsy ruled out suicide as a cause of death in what appeared to be an assassination-style hit.  

German neo-Nazi Stephan Ernst, 46, admitted to the killing.  

Federal prosecutors have said Ernst was motivated by ‘racism and xenophobia’ when he shot Luebcke in the head.

May 24, 2019 – Lyon bomb explosion

Thirteen people – including a young girl – were wounded after nail bomb went off outside a bakery in Lyon on May 24. 

A 24-year-old man was arrested and police at the time said he was a suspect bomber.

He had been the target of an extensive manhunt after the explosive device was placed in front of the bakery near the corner of two crowded pedestrian streets in the historic centre of Lyon.

Police circulated photos of the suspect on Twitter, leading to ‘several dozen’ calls from people with information.

Sources close to the investigation suspected the explosive was acetone peroxide, or APEX, a volatile compound used in the deadly Paris attacks on November 13, 2015.  

Investigators recovered small screws, ball bearings and batteries along with a printed circuit and a remote-controlled trigger device. Officials later said the charge was relatively weak.

Thirteen people were wounded in the blast – eight women, four men and a 10-year-old girl – of whom 11 needed hospital treatment. 

March 18, 2019 – Dutch tram shooting 

Gokmen Tanis, 38, shot four people dead in a gun attack on a Dutch tram on March 18. 

He was jailed for life after being found guilty of murder with a terrorist motive over an attack on a tram near Utrech central station. 

Tanis carried out his attack by shooting people from close range with a silenced pistol on a tram in the Dutch city around 10.45am.

One victim, a 19-year-old woman, was shot while talking on the phone with her boss. Another was shot as she leaped from the tram, Dutch News reported.  

Tanis then got off the tram and shot another person sitting behind the wheel of a car before fleeing.

Several people reported hearing Tanis shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ as he fired the shots, while he also left behind a note in a stolen car which said ‘I’m doing this for my belief. You are killing Muslims.

‘You want to take our belief away from us, but it won’t work.’

Five people were injured in total, four of whom later died of their wounds.

April 7, 2018 – Munster car attack

Interior designer and bodybuilder Jens Ruther, 48, drove a van into a group of people sitting outside a restaurant in the old city centre of Muenster in Germany.

He killed two in the attack before shooting himself. 

He is understood to have been a heavy metal fanatic who had been ‘badly affected’ by narrowly missing the attacks on the Bataclan in Paris in 2015. 

He had told friends of his ‘shock’ that he had attended a concert at the Bataclan shortly before the ISIS atrocity that left 89 dead. 

March 23, 2018 – Carcassonne and Trebes attacks

Radouane Lakdim went on a rampage through Carcassonne and Trebes that saw him hold up a car, fire on police and take hostages in a supermarket, screaming ‘Allahu Akbar’. Security forces then stormed the building and killed him.

Jean Mazieres, 60, was killed by Lakdim during the carjacking; Christian Medves, 50, was shot in the supermarket, where he worked as a butcher; and construction worker Herve Sosna, 65, was a customer in the supermarket.

Hero gendarme Arnaud Beltrame died after swapping places with a hostage. 

June 3, 2017 – London Bridge attack

Three attackers rammed a van into pedestrians on London Bridge then stabbed revellers in nearby bars, killing eight people and injuring at least 48. 

Islamic State says its militants are responsible. 

May 22, 2017 – Manchester Arena bombing 

Salman Abedi kills 22 children and adults and wounds 59 at crowded Manchester arena, as crowds begin to leave a concert by US singer Ariana Grande.

March 22, 2017 – Westminster attack 

Khalid Masood, 52, drove a 4×4 vehicle at pedestrians at speeds of up to 76mph on Westminster bridge.

He then stabbed PC Keith Palmer to death which the officer was guarding the main vehicle entrance to parliament. 

Six people died – including Masood who was shot by a police officer – and at least 20 were injured in what police called a ‘marauding terrorist attack’.  

December 19, 2016 – Berlin Christmas market attack

Anis Amri drove a truck  into a crowded Christmas market in central Berlin, killing 12 people and injuring 48. 

The truck’s original driver Łukasz Urban was found dead in the passenger seat after he was shot.

The vehicle’s automatic breaks eventually stopped the attacker – who was then killed four days later in a shoot out.  

July 26, 2016 – Normandy church attack

Adel Kermiche and Abdel Malik Petitjean – both 19 – killed 85-year-old priest Jacques Hamel with a blade and seriously wounded one other hostage in a church in northern France before being shot dead by French police.

The two hostage-takers had pledged allegiance to Islamic State. They were shot dead when trying to leave the church.

July 22, 2016 – Munich shooting 

David Ali Sonboly, 18, shot dead nine people at a Munich shopping mall before turning the gun on himself, having spent a year planning the rampage.

Police said the German-Iranian teen was ‘obsessed’ with mass murderers such Norwegian right-wing fanatic Anders Behring Breivik and had no links to the Islamic State (IS) group. 

The attack was carried out on the fifth anniversary of twin attacks by Norwegian mass murderer Breivik that killed 77 people. 

July 14, 2016 – Nice truck attack

On Bastille Day Tunisian-born local Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel drove a 19-tonne truck into a crowd celebrating the national holiday on the Promenade des Anglais.

A total of 86 people were killed, and some 434 were injured in the terrorist atrocity.

Lahouaiej-Bouhlel suffered from psychiatric problems, but he claimed a loose affiliation to ISIS before carrying out the crime, which ended with him also being shot dead.  

March 22, 2016 – Brussels bombings

Three Islamic State suicide bombers, all Belgian nationals, blew themselves up at Brussels airport and in a metro train in the Belgian capital, killing 32 people. At least 300 people were injured.

Police found links with attacks in Paris the previous November.

November 13, 2015 – Paris attacks

Paris is rocked by multiple, near simultaneous gun-and-bomb attacks on entertainment sites around the city, in which 130 people die and 368 are wounded. Islamic State claimed responsibility. 

Two of the 10 known perpetrators were Belgian citizens and three others were French.