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Two young Austrians have been hailed for their bravery following the deadly firearms attack in the capital Vienna after images of them intervening to help the wounded, including a police officer, were seen on social media.
Video filmed from a nearby building shows the couple running towards the exit of a subway station and helping panicked passersby to take cover while shots still echoed across the street.
On Tuesday, the Interior Ministry confirmed, without naming the two friends, that they had assisted during the attack late Monday by a radicalized Vienna-born young man who held the joint citizenship of Austria and North Macedonia.
The attacker killed four people before being killed by the police.
Mikail Ozen and Recep Tayyip Gultekin, both Austrian nationals of Turkish descent, had planned to “have one last coffee” together in bustling Schwedenplatz before the country’s coronavirus lockdown went into effect, they said in a video posted online immediately afterward. of the attack.
The first shots could be heard even when they reached the crowded square by the river to find “people lying on the ground covered in blood,” Ozen recalled.
They went to help a panicked older woman who was looking for a place to hide, only to see an injured policeman lying on the ground.
“We couldn’t act like we didn’t see it,” Ozen said. “We ran and took him to the ambulance” holding him below the shoulders as the shooting continued.
The two semi-professional martial arts practitioners made a call for unity between “Jews, Christians and Muslims” that was picked up by many Austrian media.
“We are Muslims of Turkish origin, we hate any kind of terrorism. We are with Austria, with Vienna, we respect Austria ”, they said.
Turkish media reported that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had called the couple to congratulate them.
• This article was amended on November 4, 2020 to clarify that the suspect was born in Austria and had Austrian and North Macedonian citizenship.
