Austrian police say one dead and several injured after shooting in Vienna

Vienna authorities say at least one person was killed and several more injured in the Austrian capital on Monday night in what security officials described as a “terrorist attack.”

“One person dead, several injured (including 1 officer),” Vienna police said on Twitter. “A suspect shot to death by police officers”.

The Austrian Press Agency previously quoted ambulance service spokesman Daniel Melcher as saying that there were several deaths and injuries, although it could not yet provide a number.

Austria’s top security official said authorities believe multiple attackers were involved and the incident is still continuing.

“It appears to have been a terrorist attack,” Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told the ORF public broadcaster, adding that the perpetrators were armed with rifles.

“I can confirm that there were several injuries and that there are probably deaths among them as well,” Nehammer said.

Vienna police said several shots were fired shortly after 8 pm (1900 GMT) on a lively street in the city center and that there were six different shooting locations.

Police urged people to avoid all open spaces and public transportation in the city. Police said the trams and buses were not stopping and urged social media users not to post videos of the ongoing police operation, so as not to endanger the officers.

“There are several people injured,” police tweeted. “We are in the place with all available forces. Avoid all the public squares of the city.”

Oskar Deutsch, the head of the Jewish community in Vienna, said the shooting took place on the street where the city’s main synagogue is located, but that it was unclear whether the house of worship had been targeted.

The synagogue was already closed at the time of the shooting, Deutsch tweeted.
Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister told The Associated Press that he saw at least one person shoot at people sitting outside bars on the street below his window.

“They were firing at least 100 rounds right outside our building,” Hofmeister said.

“All these bars have tables outside. Tonight is the last night before closing,” he added. “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.”

French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted that the French “share the shock and pain of the Austrian people affected by an attack tonight.”

“After France, this is a friendly country that has been attacked. This is our Europe … We will not give up,” he wrote.

France has suffered three attacks attributed to Muslim extremists in recent weeks: one by a Pakistani refugee who injured two people in front of the former headquarters of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, the murder of a school teacher who showed students cartoons of the prophet Islam and a deadly knife attack. last Thursday in a church in the Mediterranean city of Nice. France’s counterterrorism prosecutor has opened investigations into all three, and France is now at its highest level of alert.

Vienna authorities urged people to avoid all open spaces and public transportation in the city. Police said the trams and buses were not stopping and urged social media users not to post videos of the ongoing police operation, so as not to endanger the officers.

– AP