2 Dead, 15 Wounded in 'Despicable' Vienna Attack

Gunmen opened fire on people having their last night out before lockdown
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Nov 2, 2020 3:13 PM CST
Updated Nov 2, 2020 5:36 PM CST
Cops: 'Several Injured' in Shooting Near Vienna Synagogue
Police at the scene after gunshots were heard, in Vienna, Monday, Nov. 2, 2020.   (AP Photo)

Gunmen opened fire on people enjoying a last evening out in Vienna before a coronavirus lockdown Monday in what authorities said was a terror attack that left at least two dead—including one of the assailants—and 15 wounded. "We are victims of a despicable terror attack in the federal capital that is still ongoing," Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said hours after the gunfire erupted. "There are still several perpetrators on the run." Police said that several shots were fired shortly after 8pm on a lively street in the city center and that there were six shooting locations, the AP reports. Unverified footage posted on social media showed gunmen walking through the streets of Vienna, apparently shooting at people at random, wounding several.

Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told public broadcaster ORF that the assailants were armed with rifles and that the army had been asked to guard key locations in the city to allow police to pursue the gunmen. Kurz praised police for killing one of the attackers and vowed: "We will not never allow ourselves to be intimidated by terrorism and will fight these attacks with all means." Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig said 15 people were hospitalized, seven with serious injuries. Oskar Deutsch, the head of the Jewish community in Vienna, said that the shooting took place outside the city’s main synagogue but that it wasn’t clear whether the house of worship had been targeted. The synagogue was closed at the time, he tweeted.

(More Vienna stories.)

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