Director A.Valudskis, who is at the center of the terrorist attack in Vienna: “We were closed in the bar until the third hour” | Lifetime

Although A. Valudskis lives with his family in Salzburg, he has temporarily stayed in the Austrian capital for about a month, where he is creating a mono-performance based on Marius Povilas Elijah Martynenko’s book “The Beginning of a World Without Five.” “How did this issue coincide for us?” Said the director in frustration.

A. Valudskis was involved in the terrorist attack when he returned home after rehearsal. Since Monday night is the last night before the quarantine is introduced in Austria, A. Valudski decided to spend the night in the center of Vienna.

“I got out of the subway. Then I heard a gunshot. I didn’t understand what was going on. I was thinking that maybe someone is celebrating. After all, when the Austrians found out that we would be home for four weeks, some started shooting fireworks. like during the new year.

Then I went to a bar near the theater. I sat there for a while, wanted to drive home. When I left, I saw that people were fleeing, ”said the Lithuanian.

According to him, the city was in an uproar and all the people around him were fleeing. After turning onto the first street, A. Valudskis ran into the bar.

“I hid there. I ran in and then they locked me inside. There were 13 people, I counted on my fingers. We stayed there until the third hour of the night. We were afraid to leave because we heard sirens. The television was on in the bar, where the chancellor, politicians and police spoke constantly, ”said the director.

Immediately, as soon as he ran to the bar, A. Valudskis wrote to his family members. With the daughter, said the interlocutor, he maintained constant correspondence and she kept insisting that he not go anywhere in the bar.

The same calls came in on television – people were urged to be where they are, in bars or at home. People were shot and injured on television: “They said that a civilian died, very close to us, and then a policeman was injured.”

According to A.Valudskis, the distance from the bar to the place where the shooting took place was only 200 meters. The manager said other people came to the bar and asked for help here.

Although Austrian bars are non-smoking, that night ashtrays were distributed to everyone for people to smoke in the bar.

“We squatted on the bar and were afraid to leave. I thought I needed to go home. I tried to call a taxi, but there was none, the subway was gone. Around the third night I went out into the street. There were no people. It was like a ghost town, “said A. Valudskis.

On the street, the Lithuanian met two more women, who were soon approached by a car and they drove off.

“It just came to our attention then. Then such a car came. I stopped, there was a man from Romania, he took me home,” Valudski said.

“I was in the Soviet Union, I was DurnyneI was in jail because I didn’t want to go to Afghanistan and I didn’t want to kill people. Then I pretended to be a schizophrenic and got into stupid. But here in Vienna, where I did so well, where I was very happy, I got off the subway and started filming. Horror, I have not seen those things yet, people are fleeing and you do not understand what is happening “, A. Valudskis did not hide his emotions.

The number of victims is increasing

Casualties from the shooting in the center of the Austrian capital on Monday night rose to four, and one assailant was killed, officials from the BNS news agency reported.

“Four people and one assailant were killed,” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said by Der Standart on Tuesday. The publication added that the number of injured also rose to 17.

According to the minister, two men and two women were mortally wounded in the attack in the center of Vienna. Police also shot the assailant, armed with a machine gun and wrapped in a fake belt of a deadly explosive.

“We witnessed the attack by at least one Islamist terrorist last night,” Nehammer told reporters.

He noted that preliminary data from the investigation showed that the beaten suspect sympathized with the Islamic State jihadist movement. Police searched the man’s apartment and searched other locations, the Austrian news agency APA reported.

The exact number of attackers is not yet known. Police continue to search for possible accomplices of the murdered attacker.