Three seriously injured

Trial for attempted murder in street shooting

The four defendants in the attempted murder trial in Vienna.

(Bild: Bissuti Kristian/Kristian Bissuti, Krone KREATIV)

Three critically injured victims after a wild shootout on the street in Vienna's Floridsdorf district on October 7, 2023. A father and three of his sons have to answer for attempted murder in Vienna. Was it a self-defense situation in a dispute with a once friendly family, as the defendants' lawyers are sure?

You can senselessly destroy the lives of others as well as your own. The trial at the Vienna Regional Court on Friday is an example of this: the accused father (54) was a building contractor and successfully ran his company in the capital for thirty years. Now he is sitting in the dock with his head bowed in the main courtroom. With three of his four sons (22, 25, 29), who were also on the right track: The youngest son, for example, had only recently graduated from a technical college, the other two were working in technical professions. Now the four blameless men are each accused of attempted murder by the Vienna public prosecutor's office.

The background was a family feud
It is about the crime that kept the Austrian capital in suspense on the evening of October 7, 2023. A wild shootout on the street in Floridsdorf terrified the population. 

The attacker was the son of the other family. In the town hall and in Floridusgasse.

Anwalt Rudolf Mayer vertritt zwei der Angeklagten.

Bild: Groh Klemens

It later became known that it was a family feud that escalated: the first accused Austrian from North Macedonia was attending an MMA fight with his sons at the Vienna Stadthalle that evening. "During the course of the event, a fight broke out between the youngest son and the son of the opponent's family," the public prosecutor opened the trial. The families knew each other. "It was about a girl," explains lawyer Rudolf Mayer, who is representing two of the defendants. The aggression came from the son of the other family, says Mayer. This is proven by a video from the town hall.

Large-scale operation at the scene of the crime in Vienna Floridsdorf.

(Bild: Thomas Wagner)

Discussion led to the catastrophe
The fathers later agreed to meet. Because the opposing father had an ankle bracelet and had to be home by 8 p.m., they arranged to meet in Floridusgasse in Floridsdorf. The four defendants and the four opponents met in the middle of the road. "The attempt to talk quickly turned into a brawl," said the public prosecutor. Once again, a member of the victim's family was probably the first to strike. The third defendant then pulled out a knife, stabbed the attacker in the upper arm and another in the buttocks.

It was a debate that degenerated. We are a long way from an intent to murder here.

Auch Anwalt Manfred Arbacher-Stöger verteidigt zwei der Angeklagten.

Bild: Zwefo

His 22-year-old brother pulled out a Zastava pistol during the scuffle, fired a warning shot into the ground and hit another member of the other family in the back with a second shot. Finally, the master builder is also said to have pulled out a gun. According to the public prosecutor, he shot through his left thigh and grazed his arm with a second shot. "He wanted to protect his youngest son," Mayer is convinced. There was no intent to murder. His colleague Manfred Arbacher-Stöger agrees: "It was a debate that got out of hand." The defendants plead "not guilty" to attempted murder.

Victims were left lying in pools of blood
"I was shooting around, I wanted to help my brother, who was in a headlock with one of the others," says the fourth defendant, who is a martial artist himself. "What do you mean, you were shooting around?" asks Judge Christoph Bauer. "I was aiming for the legs. I didn't want to hit any vital organs."  

Victims' lawyer Zaid Rauf cites the serious injuries suffered by the victims: "The victims were lying on the street in their own pools of blood. Three of them almost died." Adjourned.