Vienna gunman was on terror list – but police decided he was no threat
A TERRORIST who killed at least four in a gun rampage on the streets of Vienna was on a jihadi watchlist – but police decided he was not a threat.
Kujtim Fejzulai gunned down revellers enjoying a final night out on Monday before a coronavirus lockdown was imposed in the Austrian capital.
Before his attack, the 20-yearold – who was killed by police – posted a picture of himself with an AK47 assault rifle, pistol and machete on his Instagram page, where he pledged allegiance to Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi.
Fejzulai, who was born in Austrian but has North Macedonian heritage, was jailed for 22 months in April last year for trying to join IS forces in Syria.
He was put on a governmentfunded de- radicalisation programme and managed to secure an early release from prison just eight months later.
Interior minister Karl Nehammer said: ‘The perpetrator managed to fool the de-radicalisation programme of the justice system, to fool the people in it, and to get an early release through this.’
After his release, police thought Fejzulai was not capable of planning a terror attack, sources said.
Austrian authorities are facing questions as to how an extremist on their watchlist was able to buy weapons to cause mayhem in Vienna’s old town district.
Initial witness reports suggested there were several gunmen and 1,000 police were mobilised to find them. They held dozens of innocent men at gunpoint and closed down entire neighbourhoods, as panic gripped the city.
Security forces swooped on 18 different addresses, including Fejzulai’s home, and made 14 arrests as they looked for possible accomplices. But after detectives went through hours of CCTV and mobile phone footage, Mr Nehammer said there was no ‘evidence of a second attacker’.
Restaurants and bars were packed with revellers on an unusually warm evening in the Austown,
‘It was an attack out of hatred’
trian capital on Monday night when the sound of gunfire filled the air. Fejzulai started his rampage by the Stadttempel, the city’s main synagogue, and indiscriminately fired at beer gardens and outdoor restaurants near Mozart’s former home.
One video posted on social media showed a young man backing up against a wall with his hands in the air. Fejzulai, wearing a white tracksuit, ignored the man’s attempt to surrender, shooting him multiple times from close range with his rifle. He then returned 20 seconds later to finish him off with a handgun.
As he zig-zagged through the old Fejzulai also killed an elderly couple and a waitress.
He injured a further 22 victims before he was shot dead by police near St Rupert’s Church at 8.09pm – nine minutes after his rampage began. Three of his victims were still fighting for their lives in hospital yesterday.
A policeman also suffered a serious gunshot wound but was saved when two Turkish men came to his aid. Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister watched from the window of his apartment as the gunman fired dozens of rounds outside the synagogue. ‘ He was attacking the guests of bars and pubs,’ he said. ‘People were jumping and running, falling over the tables, running inside the bars followed by the gunman also running inside the bars. All bars and restaurants will be closed in Austria for the next month and a lot of people probably wanted to use that evening to be able to go out.’ Wearing a fake suicide vest, Fejzulai then jogged through the streets looking for his next victims.
Austria –which has a population of nine million – had until now been spared the sort of major attacks that have hit other European nations such as France, Germany and Britain over the past decade. The last significant attacks date back to the 1970s and 1980s and were carried out by pro-Palestinian militants.
Yesterday, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said: ‘The attack was clearly an Islamist terror attack. It was an attack out of hatred – hatred for our fundamental values, hatred for our way of life, hatred for our democracy in which all people have equal rights and dignity.’