Gunman who killed 4 in Vienna attack had sought to join IS
VIENNA — A man who had previously tried to join the Islamic State group rampaged in Vienna armed with an automatic rifle and a fake explosive vest, fatally shooting four people before he was killed by police, Austrian authorities said Tuesday.
Witnesses described dozens of screaming people fleeing the sounds of gunshots Monday night in a nightlife district crowded with revelers enjoying the last hours before a coronavirus lockdown.
Others barricaded themselves inside restaurants for hours until they were sure the danger had passed. Video that appeared to be from the scene showed a gunman, dressed in white coveralls, firing off bursts seemingly at random as he ran down the Austrian capital’s dark cobblestone streets.
While the attack lasted just minutes, authorities said only on Tuesday afternoon that there was no indication of a second attacker — adding to tension in the capital as residents were urged to stay home.
Two men and two women died of their injuries in the attack — including one German woman, according to Germany’s foreign minister. Authorities said a police officer who tried to get in the way of the attacker was shot and wounded, along with 21 other people.
The suspect was identified as a 20-year-old Austrian-North Macedonian dual citizen with a previous terror conviction for attempting to join the Islamic State group in Syria.
Police searched 18 properties as well as the suspect’s apartment, detaining 14 people associated with the assailant who are being questioned, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said.
“Yesterday’s attack was clearly an Islamist terror attack,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said. “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.”
Top Ky. cop resigns: The head of Kentucky State Police is stepping down days after a report surfaced about old training materials the agency used that encouraged cadets to be “ruthless” and quoted Adolf Hitler.
Police Commissioner Rodney Brewer’s resignation is effective Wednesday, Kentucky Justice and Public Safety Cabinet spokeswoman Morgan Hall said in a statement.
She did not address why Brewer is stepping down, but said Lt. Col. Phillip Burnett was selected to be acting commissioner.
Brewer was appointed by Gov. Andy Beshear in January after previously leading the agency from December 2007 to February 2016.
The resignation comes after DuPont High School’s Manual RedEye first reported on the training materials last week.
The newspaper said the presentation instructed cadets to “meet violence with greater violence” and included three quotes from Hitler and a quote from Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.
The Kentucky Justice Cabinet has said the instructional materials were last used in 2013 and officials are working to “swiftly and thoroughly conduct an internal review of all training materials” used by state police.
Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict:
Russia’s top diplomat said Tuesday that about 2,000 fighters from the Middle East have joined the fighting over NagornoKarabakh, the worst outbreak of hostilities in the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan in more than a quarter-century.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement came as the warring parties traded accusations over new attacks in the region.
“We are certainly worried about the internationalization of the NagornoKarabakh conflict and the involvement of militants from the Middle East,” Lavrov said in an interview with the Russian business daily Kommersant.
“We have repeatedly asked foreign players to use their potential to stop the transfer of militants, whose number in the conflict zone is approaching 2,000,” he said.
Justices hint at less leniency:
The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday suggested that it could halt what has been a gradual move toward more leniency for children who are convicted of murder.
In cases over more than a decade, the court has concluded that children should be treated differently from adults, in part because of their lack of maturity. But the court, which has become more conservative over the last few years, could decide not to go any further.
The justices Tuesday were hearing a case about sentencing juveniles to life without parole.
The court has previously said that should be rare, and the question before the justices has to do with what courts must do before deciding to impose a life without parole sentence on a juvenile.
During arguments, which the justices heard by phone because of the coronavirus pandemic, Justice Samuel Alito suggested the court has gone too far.
“What would you say to any members of this court who are concerned that we have now gotten light years away from the original meaning of the Eighth Amendment and who are reluctant to go any further on this travel into space?” Alito asked at one point, referencing the amendment’s prohibition against “cruel and unusual” punishment.
Justice Clarence Thomas and Justice Neil Gorsuch also indicated they take issue with the court’s most recent case about juvenile life sentences.
Mourning after terror attack:
Afghanistan declared a national day of mourning Tuesday to honor the 22 people killed in a horrific attack a day earlier on Kabul University, which was claimed by the Islamic State group. Most of those killed were students and another 27 people were wounded, some of them critically.
The brutal, hourslong assault Monday was the second attack on an educational institution in the
Afghan capital in as many weeks amid a soaring rise in violence and chaos across the country, even as the Taliban and government negotiators hold peace talks in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar.
Vandalism found before Trump rally:
Police are investigating vandalism that left several headstones at a Jewish cemetery in Grand Rapids, Michigan, spray-painted with “TRUMP” and “MAGA” before President Donald Trump held his final campaign rally in the city.
Grand Rapids police officers Monday found six headstones spray-painted with red paint at the Ahavas Israel Cemetery.
The vandalism appeared to be “relatively new,” with “TRUMP” spray-painted on the back of four headstones, and “MAGA” — an acronym for the Trump campaign slogan Make America Great Again — spray-painted on two others, Sgt. John Wittkowski, a spokesman for the city’s police department, said in a statement.