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The first shots are fired in the center of Vienna when Recep Gültekin and Mikail Özen want to go out for coffee on Monday night. The Islamist Kujtim F., 20, has just launched a terrorist attack unprecedented in recent Austrian history.
Gültekin and Özen get caught up in it. As the shots go off, they begin to help an elderly woman and an injured police officer, as can be seen in the videos on social media. “We wanted to have the last coffee before curfews and we ended up in the middle of the battle,” Özen described the situation on Instagram.
Now young people are recognized as online heroes for their selfless help. Interior Minister Karl Nehammer praised the two’s engagement Tuesday afternoon as a sign of union.
“We couldn’t just watch”
Four people were killed in the terrorist attack on Monday night and 17 others were injured, some seriously. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz spoke of a “disgusting terrorist attack”. The killer was shot and killed by the police at the scene. According to information from SPIEGEL, this is Kujtim F., 20 years old.
Gültekin and Özen are martial artists. On Monday night, they said they heard gunshots at Schwedenplatz in central Vienna and saw bystanders bleeding. The two men first helped an old woman to safety. After that, they saw an injured policeman. “We couldn’t just watch. We ran and took him to the ambulance,” Özen said.
“Muslims abhor any kind of terror”
Photos of a resident show the rescue operation of the two. The Viennese SPÖ politician Muhammed Yüksek also confirms the act of the two. “There was no choice but to help,” Özen told Austrian “Kurier” in a video call.
His own life was also in danger from the mission. Gültekin shot himself. A temporary video uploaded to his Instagram account that night shows an injury to his left leg and a photo of his friend Özen’s bloodstained hands.
On Tuesday, they both thanked Instagram for the encouragement and sympathy in a new video.
Gültekin had to be treated at the hospital for what he said was a “small gunshot wound” to his leg. His friend Özen later told the “Kurier”: “Of course there was fear yesterday. It was full of adrenaline. But fear makes you do things you could not do otherwise.”
They both strongly condemned the terrorist attack: “We Muslims of Turkish descent abhor any kind of terror, we support Austria, we defend Vienna,” Özen declared. Gültekin wrote on Instagram: “Terror has no religion, terror has no nation. We all stick together.”
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