"No attempt to murder"

Surprising verdicts in street shooting trial

A father (right) and three of his sons in the dock in Vienna

(Bild: Bissuti)

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, who had attended an MMA fight in the Stadthalle before the crime, had to answer for attempted murder in Vienna. But the jury decided otherwise.

 "It all came about out of fear of the attack," said lawyer Manfred Arbacher-Stöger, confirming the defense line, which went in the direction of self-defense. "We are galaxies away from attempted murder," said the defense lawyer in the closing statement at the trial for attempted murder in a shooting in Vienna-Floridsdorf after an MMA fight in October 2023.

Successful building contractor and three of his sons
The accused father (54) was a building contractor and successfully ran his company in the Austrian capital for thirty years. Now he sat in the dock with his head bowed in the Grand Jury 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.

It was about a girl. The other one struck first.

Anwalt Rudolf Mayer

It was about the crime that had kept the capital city in suspense on the evening of October 7, 2023. A wild shooting on the street in Floridsdorf terrified the population. 

Triggered by a love story
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 Wiener Stadthalle that evening. "During the course of the event, a fight broke out between the youngest son and the son of the opposing family," the public prosecutor opened on the first of three days of the trial.

Defending the accused quartet: Manfred Arbacher-Stöger (left) and Rudi Mayer

(Bild: KRISTIAN BISSUTI)

The families knew each other. "It was about a girl," explained lawyer Rudolf Mayer, who is representing two of the accused. In the course of an agreed discussion between the once friendly families, things escalated in Floridusgasse (21st). The defendants had knives and firearms with them and used them after being attacked with fists. Three opponents fell to the ground in the street that evening in Vienna with gunshot wounds and suffered life-threatening injuries.

All of this happened out of fear of the attack.

Anwalt Manfred Arbacher-Stöger

Five months to seven years in prison
From the beginning of the trial, the defendants pleaded "not guilty" to attempted murder and spoke of an attack by others that had escalated. The defense strategy was successful. On Monday, the jury at the Vienna Regional Court acquitted them of attempted murder. The father and the youngest accused son were sentenced to five and seven years' imprisonment respectively for intentional grievous bodily harm, while the other two sons were sentenced to 36 months (12 of which unconditional) and five months conditional for grievous bodily harm and brawling respectively. Not legally binding.