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2020 Vienna attack

Coordinates: 48°12′43″N 16°22′29″E / 48.21194°N 16.37472°E / 48.21194; 16.37472
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2020 Vienna attack
Part of Islamic terrorism in Europe
Map
LocationInnere Stadt, Vienna, Austria
Coordinates48°12′43″N 16°22′29″E / 48.21194°N 16.37472°E / 48.21194; 16.37472
Date2 November 2020 (2020-11-02)
20:00 (CET)
TargetCivilians
Attack type
Mass shooting
Weapons
Deaths5 (including the perpetrator)
Injured23
PerpetratorKujtim Fejzulai
MotiveIslamist terrorism

The 2020 Vienna attack was a series of shootings that occurred on 2 November 2020 in Vienna, Austria. A few hours before the city was to enter a lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a lone gunman started shooting in the busy city centre. Four civilians were killed in the attack and 23 others were injured, seven critically, including a police officer. The attacker was killed by police and was later identified as an ISIL sympathizer.[2] Officials said that the attack was an incident of Islamist terrorism.[3][4]

Attack

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The attack began on 2 November 2020 around 20:00 in Vienna, Austria, when a man started shooting at people in six locations: Seitenstettengasse, Morzinplatz [de], Salzgries, Fleischmarkt [de], Bauernmarkt [de], and Graben.[5] The attacker was armed with a rifle, a handgun, and a machete[6][7] and was wearing a fake explosive belt.[8] The attack ended when the gunman was shot dead by police at 20:09 near St. Rupert's Church.[9][5]

The shooting took place four hours before the midnight start of a nationwide lockdown as new COVID-19 restrictions were due to come into force in Austria, including a 20:00 to 06:00 curfew.[10][11][12] Crowds in bars and restaurants were enjoying a last evening out before the lockdown began.[13]

Casualties

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Casualties by citizenship
(not including attacker)
Citizenship[14] Deaths Injuries
Austria 3 13
Germany 1 4
Slovakia - 2
Afghanistan - 1
Bosnia and Herzegovina - 1
China - 1
Luxembourg - 1
Total 4 23

Four people were killed by the attacker: they were a 39-year-old Austrian man, a 24-year-old German woman, a 44-year-old Austrian woman, and a 21-year-old Austrian man originally from North Macedonia.[15][16] The attacker was also shot dead by the police at the scene.[4][17]

Twenty-three other people were wounded with gunshot and stab wounds; thirteen citizens from Austria, four from Germany, two from Slovakia, and one each from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, and Luxembourg.[14] Seven suffered life-threatening injuries.[18] Among the wounded was a 28-year-old police officer who was shot and critically injured while responding to the attack.[19][20] The wounded officer and an elderly woman were saved by a Palestinian and two Turkish-Austrian men, who carried them away from the attacker to ambulances. After confronting the attacker, one of the Turkish-Austrians was shot and wounded.[19] The three men were praised for their actions.[21]

Investigation

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Videos of the shooting surfaced, including one of the attacker shooting a civilian first with a rifle and then up close with a handgun. The police asked that witnesses not post videos and photographs on social media, but rather submit them to the authorities.[2] As a result, the police received a large number of videos from the public following the attack, and an investigation team examined them for evidence.[8]

On the morning of 3 November, searches of apartments linked with the perpetrator took place, and in his home they found a stockpile of ammunition.[19][22] Austrian authorities said at 01:00 that at least one gunman remained on the run,[23][20][24] but that afternoon Minister of the Interior Karl Nehammer said there was no indication of additional attackers.[25] Officials stated that the attack was an act of Islamic terrorism.[3][4]

ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack a day later, calling the attacker a "soldier of the caliphate" and posting one of his photos with guns and a knife, and released a video of the attacker pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIL, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.[7][26][27] It was not clear, however, whether ISIL helped plan the attack; the group has a track record of claiming responsibility for lone wolf attacks.[2]

Perpetrator

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The perpetrator was identified as 20-year-old Kujtim Fejzulai.[28][29] He was born in Mödling, a town south of Vienna, in 2000, where he grew up, and lived in the town of Sankt Pölten, 53 kilometres (33 mi) west of Vienna.[29][30] He was a dual citizen of Austria and North Macedonia of Albanian ethnic origin[31] and was known to the Austrian Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism. He had been sentenced to 22 months imprisonment in April 2019, after he tried to cross the Turkish border into Syria to join ISIL; however, he was paroled in December 2019, eight months into the sentence.[29][23][32] He was one of around 90 Austrian Islamists who have tried to reach Syria.[33][34] An Austrian official said that investigators believed that he had worshipped at a mosque that Austrian intelligence services suspected of promulgating extremism.[19] Fejzulai had previously taken part in a deradicalization programme run by the DERAD association.[35]

Die Zeit reported that Fejzulai was known to Slovak police in Bratislava, who had reportedly hindered his purchase of ammunition and reported this to Austrian authorities. Weapons and ammunition with Slovakian identification numbers have been used in several terrorist attacks in the past.[36]

Hours before the attack, Fejzulai had pledged allegiance to ISIL in Arabic in an Instagram post, using the name Abu Dujana al-Albani.[7] In the post he held an assault rifle, handgun, and machete across his chest.[37]

Aftermath

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See also: Islam in Austria § Religiosity and fundamentalism
Memorial at Friedmann-Platz

A large police deployment took place in Vienna right after the attack, and members of EKO Cobra and WEGA were brought in to hunt for the perpetrators.[2][23][38] Vienna police said that special forces entered the gunman's apartment using explosives, and a search of its surroundings was underway on 3 November. The Austrian Federal Army was deployed to secure buildings in Vienna.[39] Roadblocks were set up around the city center.[40] Enhanced checks were instituted at the nearby Czech border.[40]

After a few hours, people were evacuated from nearby restaurants, bars, the Vienna State Opera, and the Burgtheater.[2][8][32] The Viennese police asked pedestrians to avoid open spaces and public transport in the area, and then halted all trams and subways in central Vienna and asked people to shelter in place.[2][41]

All synagogues, Jewish schools, institutions of the Jewish Community of Vienna, and kosher restaurants and supermarkets were closed the following day as a precaution after concerns were raised that the main synagogue had been the target. Although soon after the attack it became clear that the target had been the general population, not the synagogue, which had been closed and empty at the time.[8][42]

On 6 November, authorities decided that two mosques in Ottakring (German: Melit-Ibrahim-Moschee) and Meidling (German: Tewhid-Moschee) would be closed because "a positive attitude towards society and state" as a legal precondition was not fulfilled by the mosques. The mosques had reportedly contributed to the radicalization of the attacker and they were reportedly frequented by him and other Islamists.[43][44] The Melit-Ibrahim-Moschee had previously reportedly been frequented by Islamist Mohamed M. and an Islamic State supporter who was subsequently jailed.[45]

On 11 November, the Islamic cemetery in Wien-Liesing on the outskirts of Vienna refused to allow the attacker to be buried there, as did another Muslim cemetery in Austria.[46]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Polizei veröffentlicht Fotos von Tatwaffen des Anschlags". 8 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Schuetze, Christopher F.; Eddy, Melissa; Bennhold, Katrin; Koettl, Christoph (3 November 2020). "Vienna Shooting Live Updates: Terrorist Attack in Austria Leaves 4 Dead and Many Wounded". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  3. ^ a b Boston, William; Pancevski, Bojan; Bender, Ruth (3 November 2020). "Vienna Shooting: Attacker Was ISIS Sympathizer; at Least Three Dead". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. At least one gunman killed four people and seriously injured several others before being shot dead by police in an attack in the Austrian capital, Vienna, that officials called Islamist terrorism.
  4. ^ a b c "Vienna terror attack had 'Islamist' motive". Deutsche Welle. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. A terror attack in Vienna that left four people dead was carried out by at least one Islamic terrorist, Austria's Interior Ministry said Tuesday.
  5. ^ a b "Vienna shooting: Austria hunts suspects after 'Islamist terror' attack". BBC News. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  6. ^ "Vienna shooting: Gunman hunted after deadly 'terror' attack". BBC News. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Police said the incident began at about 20:00 (19:00 GMT) on Monday, near the Seitenstettengasse synagogue, when a heavily armed man opened fire on people outside cafes and restaurants. [...] the perpetrator, who was armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and a machete.
  7. ^ a b c Dearden, Lizzie (3 November 2020). "Isis claims responsibility for Vienna terror attack". The Independent. ISSN 0951-9467. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  8. ^ a b c d Hruby, Denise; Pleitgen, Frederik; Cullen, Simon; Mackintosh, Eliza; Yeung, Jessie; Regan, Helen. "Vienna on high alert as police raid gunman's house with explosives after terror attack". CNN. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020.
  9. ^ "5 dead, including one gunman, in Vienna terror attack, authorities say". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. 2 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  10. ^ Oltermann, Philip (2 November 2020). "Man killed and several people injured in terror attack in Vienna". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020.
  11. ^ Doherty, Ben; Sullivan, Helen (3 November 2020). "How the Vienna shooting unfolded: final hours of freedom punctured by terror". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  12. ^ Jenne, Philipp; Jordans, Frank. "2 dead, 15 wounded in Vienna terror attack, authorities say". The New Zealand Herald. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Manhunt in Vienna after 'Islamist terrorist' attack leaves five dead". The Independent. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 14 November 2020.
  14. ^ a b "Todesopfern bei Anschlag in Wien: Drei Österreicher" [Victims of attack in Vienna: Three Austrians]. vienna.at (in German). 4 November 2020. Archived from the original on 14 November 2020.
  15. ^ Bell, Bethany (7 November 2010). "Vienna shooting: The night my safe city lost its innocence". BBC News. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020.
  16. ^ It, Stol. "Anschlag in Wien: 2 Österreicher, eine Deutsche und ein Mazedonier getötet" [Attack in Vienna: 2 Austrians, a German and a Macedonian killed]. stol.it (in German). Archived from the original on 21 November 2020.
  17. ^ Murphy, Francois (3 November 2020). "Austrian police arrest 14 in manhunt after gunman's deadly rampage". Reuters. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  18. ^ "Terror: Todesopfer wurden identifiziert" [Terror: Victims identified]. ORF Vienna (in German). 4 November 2020. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020.
  19. ^ a b c d Bennhold, Katrin; Eddy, Melissa; Schuetze, Christopher F. (3 November 2020). "Vienna Reels From a Rare Terrorist Attack". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  20. ^ a b "Vienna shooting: Austria launches manhunt after deadly terror attack". BBC News. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  21. ^ "Vienna shootings: Three men praised for helping emergency services". BBC News. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  22. ^ "Vier Tote bei islamistischem Terroranschlag in Wien, ein Täter erschossen – Mehrere Hausdurchsuchungen, mehrere Festnahmen" [Four dead in Islamist terrorist attack in Vienna, one perpetrator shot dead – Several house searches, several arrests] (in German). pp. Der Standard. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  23. ^ a b c Sullivan, Helen; Boseley, Matilda; Holmes, Oliver (3 November 2020). "Vienna terrorist attack: several dead after shooting near synagogue in Austria – live updates". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  24. ^ Doherty, Ben; Holmes, Oliver (3 November 2020). "Vienna shooting: what we know so far about the attack". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  25. ^ Doherty, Ben; Holmes, Oliver (3 November 2020). "Vienna shooting: what we know so far about the attack". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020. There is no indication of a second assailant, the interior minister, Karl Nehammer, said on Tuesday afternoon, after conflicting reports overnight.
  26. ^ Jenne, Philipp; Moulson, Geir. "Gunman who killed four in Vienna attack had sought to join Islamic State". Stars and Stripes. Associated Press. ISSN 0894-8542. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  27. ^ "Islamic state claims responsibility for Vienna attack". Reuters. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  28. ^ Hruby, Denise; Morris, Loveday; Beck, Luisa (3 November 2020). "Vienna gun attack by Islamic State sympathizer shatters an evening of revelry". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  29. ^ a b c Khera, Jastinder. "Vienna gunman: IS supporter who 'fooled' the system". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  30. ^ Pleitgen, Fred; McGee, Luke. "Four people 'killed in cold blood' in Vienna during night of terror". CNN. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  31. ^ Boxerman, Aaron. "Islamic State claims responsibility for Vienna terror attack". The Times of Israel. Archived from the original on 15 November 2020.
  32. ^ a b "Vienna shooting: Austria hunts suspects after 'Islamist terror' attack". BBC News. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  33. ^ "Terroranschlag in Wien: 'Terrorist war IS-Sympathisant': Ein Wien-Attentäter getötet, Innenminister geht von Komplizen aus" [Terrorist attack in Vienna: 'Terrorist was an IS sympathizer': One Vienna attacker killed, Interior Minister assumes accomplices] (in German). Focus. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  34. ^ "Vienna attacker was born and raised in the city, newspaper editor says". Reuters. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  35. ^ Ozsváth, Stephan. "Wien - Drehscheibe der Dschihadisten vom Balkan?" [Vienna - hub for jihadists from the Balkans?] (in German). Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 9 November 2020.
  36. ^ "Zeit Online". Die Zeit (in German). Archived from the original on 13 November 2020.
  37. ^ "Gunman's chilling post before rampage". NewsComAu. 3 November 2020. Archived from the original on 3 November 2020.
  38. ^ "Large police deployment in Vienna, paper reports attack on synagogue". Reuters. 2 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  39. ^ Auer, Konstantin; Schwarz, Christoph; Seiser, Birgit; Reibenwein, Michaela; Schreiber, Dominik; Oezelt, Nina; Wilhelmer, Philipp (2 November 2020). "Terror in Wien: Zahlreiche Verletzte und angeblich sieben Tote" [Terror in Vienna: Numerous injured and allegedly seven dead]. Kurier (in Austrian German). Archived from the original on 2 November 2020.
  40. ^ a b "Casualties in Vienna 'terrorist' shooting". BBC News. 2 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020.
  41. ^ "Police operation at Vienna synagogue after shots fired". ABC News. 2 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2020.
  42. ^ "Täter hat mitten in die Leute im Schanigarten geschossen" [Perpetrator shot right into the middle of the people in the beer garden]. Kurier (in German). 2 November 2020. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020.
  43. ^ "Zwei Moscheen in Wien geschlossen" [Two mosques closed in Vienna]. ORF Vienna (in German). 4 November 2011. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020.
  44. ^ "Nach Anschlag in Wien: Österreich schließt Moscheen" [After attack in Vienna: Austria closes mosques]. Tagesschau (in German). 6 November 2020. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Die österreichische Regierung hat zwei Moscheen geschlossen, in denen sich der Attentäter von Wien radikalisiert haben soll. Dort sollen sich auch andere Islamisten aufgehalten haben. [The Austrian government shuttered two mosques, in which the Vienna attacker was reportedly radicalised. Other Islamists reportedly also stayed there.]
  45. ^ "Schließung von radikalen Moscheen angeordnet" [Closure of radical mosques ordered]. Österreich (in German). 6 November 2020. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. In der Moschee sollen sich unter anderem auch der Islamist Mohamed M. sowie der als IS-Terrorist zu neun Jahren Haft verurteilte Lorenz K. regelmäßig aufgehalten haben. [Among others, the Islamist Mohamed M., as well as Lorenz K. – who was sentenced to nine years for being an IS terrorist – reportedly also regularly stayed at the mosque.]
  46. ^ "Friedhof verweigert Attentäter Begräbnis" [Cemetery denies attacker burial]. ORF Vienna (in German). 12 November 2020. Archived from the original on 12 November 2020.
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