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Many Viennese came out on Monday to enjoy their last night before the second coronavirus lockdown, which begins this midnight, but what was going to be a time to enjoy a beer or a concert turned into the city’s biggest terrorist nightmare in 40 years.
At around 8:00 p.m. local time (7:00 p.m. GMT), several suspected terrorists began shooting at people sitting on the terraces and the interiors of bars and restaurants in the heart of the city, a few meters from the Vienna Central Synagogue.
At midnight the authorities confirmed at least 15 injured, including seven seriously, as well as two dead, including one of the attackers. Police continue to search for other “heavily armed” terrorists.
Witnesses to the events, such as Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister, told Efe that he heard “a hundred shots” in the first moments of the attack.
“At least one attacker shot at people who were sitting in front of bars and restaurants. People ran out in panic and ran inside but the attacker followed them and fired inside as well,” Hofmeister said.
Videos circulating on social media, recorded by neighbors from their homes, show how an attacker shoots at a passerby, right in front of the main entrance of the synagogue.
The president of the Vienna Jewish community, Oskar Deutsch, told ORF public television that the synagogue was closed at the time of the attack, as were the community offices and the adjoining kosher restaurant, thus excluding an exclusive attack against that minority.
In another video, recorded from inside a restaurant in Sweden Square (Schwedenplatz), a Vienna police officer is seen to be shot dead by a semi-automatic rifle.
Hundreds or thousands of people took refuge in the interiors of the premises and restaurants near the synagogue and also in the cathedral of Vienna before the shots of the attackers.
Jasmin, a 17-year-old from Vienna, explained to Efe from inside a restaurant in the center of Vienna that at around 8:00 p.m. she saw how people began to run out of the area.
“And suddenly many heavily armed policemen appeared, urging people to get inside the restaurants,” said the young woman, who was still inside the restaurant located a few meters from the start of the armed attack around midnight.
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