The 2020 Vienna attack was a series of shootings that occurred on 2 November 2020 in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria. A few hours before the city was to enter a lockdown due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, a lone gunman started shooting in the busy city centre. Four

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...

s were killed in the attack and 23 others were injured, seven critically, including a

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

. The attacker was killed by police and was later identified as an

ISIL An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...

sympathizer. Officials said that the attack was an incident of

Islamist terrorism Islamic terrorism (also known as Islamist terrorism or radical Islamic terrorism) refers to terrorist acts with religious motivations carried out by fundamentalist militant Islamists and Islamic extremists. Incidents and fatalities fr ...

Attack

The attack began on 2 November 2020 around 20:00 in Vienna, Austria, when a man started shooting at people in six locations: Seitenstettengasse, , Salzgries, , , and Graben. The attacker was armed with a rifle, a handgun, and a

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and was wearing a fake explosive belt. The attack ended when the gunman was shot dead by police at 20:09 near St. Rupert's Church. The shooting took place four hours before the midnight start of a nationwide lockdown as new COVID-19 restrictions were due to come into force in Austria, including a 20:00 to 06:00 curfew. Crowds in bars and restaurants were enjoying a last evening out before the lockdown began.

Casualties

Four people were killed by the attacker: they were a 39-year-old Austrian man, a 24-year-old German woman, a 44-year-old Austrian woman, and a 21-year-old Austrian Muslim man originally from North Macedonia. The attacker was also shot dead by the police at the scene. Twenty-three other people were wounded with gunshot and stab wounds; thirteen citizens from Austria, four from Germany, two from Slovakia, and one each from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, and Luxembourg. Seven suffered life-threatening injuries. Among the wounded was a 28-year-old police officer who was shot and critically injured while responding to the attack. The wounded officer and an elderly woman were saved by a Palestinian and two Turkish-Austrian men, who carried them away from the attacker to ambulances. After confronting the attacker, one of the Turkish-Austrians was shot and wounded. The three men were praised for their actions.

Investigation

Videos of the shooting surfaced, including one of the attacker shooting a civilian first with a rifle and then up close with a handgun. The police asked that witnesses not post videos and photographs on social media, but rather submit them to the authorities. As a result, the police received a large number of videos from the public following the attack, and an investigation team examined them for evidence. On the morning of 3 November, searches of apartments linked with the perpetrator took place, and in his home they found a stockpile of ammunition. Austrian authorities said at 01:00 that at least one gunman remained on the run, but that afternoon

Minister of the Interior An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...

Karl Nehammer Karl Nehammer (; born 18 October 1972) is an Austrian politician who is the 32nd and current Chancellor of Austria since 6 December 2021. A member of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), he previously was Minister of the Interior from 2020 to 202 ...

said there was no indication of additional attackers. Officials stated that the attack was an act of Islamic terrorism. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack a day later, calling the attacker a "soldier of the caliphate" and posting one of his photos with guns and a knife, and released a video of the attacker pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIL,

Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi ( ar, أبو إبراهيم الهاشمي القرشي, Abū Ibrāhīm al-Hāshimī al-Qurashī; born Amir Mohammed Abdul Rahman al-Mawli al-Salbi (); 1 or 5 October 1976 – 3 February 2022) was an Iraqi Isla ...

. It was not clear, however, whether ISIL helped plan the attack; the group has a track record of claiming responsibility for

lone wolf A lone wolf is a wolf not belonging to a pack. Lone wolf or Lone Wolf may also refer to: Literature *''Lone Wolf'', a book by Kathryn Lasky, part of the series called ''Wolves of the Beyond'' *''Lone Wolf and Cub'', a 1970 Japanese graphic nov ...

attacks.

Perpetrator

The perpetrator was identified as 20-year-old Kujtim Fejzulai. He was born in

Mödling Mödling () is the capital of the Austrian district of the same name located approximately 14 km south of Vienna. Mödling lies in Lower Austria's industrial zone (Industrieviertel). The Mödlingbach, a brook which rises in the Vienna Woods, ...

, a town south of Vienna, in 2000, where he grew up, and lived in the town of Sankt Pölten, west of Vienna. He was a dual citizen of Austria and

North Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

of Albanian ethnic origin and was known to the Austrian Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism. He had been sentenced to 22 months imprisonment in April 2019, after he tried to cross the Turkish border into Syria to join ISIL; however, he was paroled in December 2019, eight months into the sentence. He was one of around 90 Austrian Islamists who have tried to reach Syria. An Austrian official said that investigators believed that he had worshipped at a mosque that Austrian intelligence services suspected of promulgating extremism. Fejzulai had previously taken part in a deradicalization programme run by the DERAD association. '' Die Zeit'' reported that Fejzulai was known to

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

n police in Bratislava, who had reportedly hindered his purchase of ammunition and reported this to Austrian authorities. Weapons and ammunition with Slovakian identification numbers have been used in several terrorist attacks in the past. Hours before the attack, Fejzulai had pledged allegiance to ISIL in

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

in an Instagram post, using the name Abu Dujana al-Albani. In the post he held an assault rifle, handgun, and machete across his chest.

Aftermath

A large police deployment took place in Vienna right after the attack, and members of EKO Cobra and WEGA were brought in to hunt for the perpetrators. Vienna police said that special forces entered the gunman's apartment using explosives, and a search of its surroundings was underway on 3 November. The

Austrian Federal Army The Austrian Armed Forces (german: Bundesheer, lit=Federal Army) are the combined military forces of the Republic of Austria. The military consists of 22,050 active-duty personnel and 125,600 reservists. The military budget is 0.74% of natio ...

was deployed to secure buildings in Vienna. Roadblocks were set up around the city center. Enhanced checks were instituted at the nearby Czech border. After a few hours, people were evacuated from nearby restaurants, bars, the

Vienna State Opera The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August ...

, and the Burgtheater. The Viennese police asked pedestrians to avoid open spaces and public transport in the area, and then halted all trams and subways in central Vienna and asked people to shelter in place. All synagogues, Jewish schools, institutions of the Jewish Community of Vienna, and kosher restaurants and supermarkets were closed the following day as a precaution after concerns were raised that the main synagogue had been the target. Although soon after the attack it became clear that the target had been the general population, not the synagogue, which had been closed and empty at the time. On 6 November, authorities decided that two mosques in Ottakring (German: ''Melit-Ibrahim-Moschee'') and Meidling (German: ''Tewhid-Moschee'') would be closed because "a positive attitude towards society and state" as a legal precondition was not fulfilled by the mosques. The mosques had reportedly contributed to the radicalization of the attacker and they were reportedly frequented by him and other Islamists. The ''Melit-Ibrahim-Moschee'' had previously reportedly been frequented by Islamist Mohamed M. and an Islamic State supporter who was subsequently jailed. On 11 November, the Islamic cemetery in Wien-Liesing on the outskirts of Vienna refused to allow the attacker to be buried there, as did another Muslim cemetery in Austria.

References