A man who had previously tried to join the Islamic State group rampaged in Vienna armed with a Kalashnikov, a fake explosive vest, a machete and a handgun, fatally shooting four people before he was killed by police, Austrian authorities said.

The suspect was identified as 20-year-old Austrian-North Macedonian dual citizen Kujtim Fejzulai, who had a previous terror conviction for attempting to join the Islamic State group in Syria.

Fejzulai was sentenced to 22 months in prison in April 2019 but was granted early release in December.

“The perpetrator managed to fool the de-radicalization program of the justice system, to fool the people in it, and to get an early release through juvenile law,” Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer Nehammer said, adding that an attempt to strip Fejzulai of his Austrian citizenship had failed for lack of enough evidence.

Nehammer told APA that Fejzulai had posted a photo on his Instagram account prior to the attack, holding two of the weapons he likely used during the attack.

https://twitter.com/SweetDarkLayers/status/1323622485162680320?s=20

In North Macedonia, police said a list of suspects sent by Austria included two others with dual Austrian and North Macedonian citizenship.

Nikolaus Rast, Fejzulai’s lawyer in the 2019 case, told public broadcaster ORF that his client had seemed “completely harmless” at the time.

“He was a young man who was searching for his place in society, who apparently went to the wrong mosque, ended up in the wrong circles,” Rast said.

Fejzulai’s family “wasn’t radical,” Rast added. “I still remember that the family couldn’t believe what had happened with their son.”

Authorities worked well into Tuesday to determine whether there were any other attackers, with some 1,000 police officers on duty in the city. People in Vienna were urged to stay at home if possible on Tuesday, and children did not have to go to school.

By mid-afternoon, investigators sifting through copious video evidence had found “no indication of a second perpetrator,” Nehammer said. “But because the evaluation is not yet concluded, we cannot yet say conclusively how many perpetrators are responsible for the crime.”

In Switzerland, police in the city of Winterthur said an 18-year-old and a 24-year-old were arrested in consultation with Austrian authorities. Investigators are now trying to determine the nature of the two men’s contact with the Vienna suspect.

Some of the circumstances of the Vienna shooting are reminiscent of the case of Usman Khan, who stabbed two people to death in 2019 in central London. Khan had been sentenced to 16 years in prison after being convicted for his role in a plot to bomb the London Stock Exchange. He was released in December 2018 after serving half his sentence, as are most prisoners in Britain. While in prison, Khan had begun working with a program that seeks to rehabilitate criminals through storytelling and workshops.

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. Videos 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 from 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.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem & AP)