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Vienna police closed part of the Austrian capital’s city center on Monday night after an “apparent terrorist attack” in front of its main synagogue.
Police said dozens of shots were fired around 8 p.m. on the street outside the building, scattering bystanders in all directions. Shootings also occurred in five other locations, with two killed and 15 injured, including a police officer.
A suspected gunman was shot dead, an Interior Ministry spokesman said, adding that others believed to be involved were on the run.
Austrian police search a civilian after a shooting in Vienna, Austria. Photography: Christian Bruna / EPA
“It sounded like fireworks, then it was clear it was gunshots,” an eyewitness, who asked not to be named, told ORF television. “Then there was a man running down Seitenstetten Street who shot around him like crazy with an automatic weapon. Then the police came and shot ”.
Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer called on people to stay home if they were in the area, a popular hangout neighborhood called by locals as the “Bermuda Triangle”, adding that it was he believed the incident to be an “apparent terrorist attack”.
Newhammer said that the six attack sites are in the immediate vicinity of the street that houses the synagogue.
Several suspected perpetrators are on the loose and a manhunt is underway, he later added, calling the attackers “heavily armed and dangerous” and urging the public to remain inside until the go-ahead is given.
One person had been arrested, the APA news agency said, citing the Interior Ministry.
A spokesman for the Vienna Jewish community said it was not immediately clear whether the synagogue was the target or the backdrop for the attack. There were no events taking place in the synagogue or the adjoining complex and both were closed.
“The perpetrator did not target the city temple,” said Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister, an eyewitness. He said he saw at least one person shoot people sitting outside bars on the street below his window.
“They were firing at least 100 rounds right outside our building,” Rabbi Hofmeister said. “All these bars have tables outside. Tonight is the last night before the lockdown.
“From midnight all bars and restaurants will be closed in Austria for the next month and a lot of people are likely to want to use that night to be able to go out.”
Ambulance cars near Schwedenplatz in Vienna, after a shooting. Photograph: Herbert Neubauer / APA / AFP via Getty Images
Police sealed off the area around Schwedenplatz, adjacent to the Danube canal, with trams and subways redirected out of the area.
On social media, the police urged people to avoid adjacent streets and not to post images of the scene on social media. Before his appeal, images appeared online that appeared to show pools of blood outside the synagogue.
“We heard the shots and then it was ‘lights out, doors closed,’” a 53-year-old tourist told the APA news agency. “Then we all fell to the ground, the fear among the guests was crazy.”
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz called the shootings in Vienna a “repulsive terror attack”, adding that the army would protect sites in the capital so that the police could focus on counterterrorism operations. Additional reports: Reuters / AP
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