Psycho perpetrator on the run

Double terror alert: 16 shots fired at the driver who ran amok

Terror alert in the heart of the city: a stolen van crashes into the plague column.

(Bild: zVg)

Police wheel claws on the amok vehicle stolen from a building site

(Bild: EVA MANHART)

Cars as weapons! Two large-scale operations for the Vienna police: while panic broke out in the pedestrian zone around the Pestsäule (plague column) in the heart of the city, a second gunman raced towards an officer at practically the same time - 16 shots from service weapons at the highest risk of death.

Fear and Wild West scenes in the German capital on the day of the tragic rampage with two fatalities by a psycho perpetrator in the German city of Mannheim on Monday evening. Two drivers caused a double terror alert. The "Krone" knows the details.

Amok driver 1:
It all began at 5.40 p.m. on a building site in Vienna's 14th district. The van of a well-known local family business was stolen there. 35 minutes later, there was a major alarm in the city center. In panic, passers-by and tourists barricaded themselves in nearby stores. The man at the wheel of the stolen minibus sped through the pedestrian zone and finally, as reported, crashed into the 21-metre-high plague column.

Crashed into the plague column on the Graben: Drunk driver in Vienna

(Bild: Martina Münzer)

After the accident, the 35-year-old driver tried to flee, but was arrested. A brave pedestrian, who tried to help, suffered injuries. Like the German man who drove amok in Mannheim, the arrested Austrian was probably undergoing psychiatric treatment - and had been reported missing by a sheltered accommodation facility. The suspect, who also uttered the Islamist battle cry "Allahu Akbar", is likely to have a pre-existing mental illness. He had a blood alcohol level of 1.2 per mille and is being investigated for endangering the public.

Amok driver 2:
A wild chase with Wild West scenes began practically at the same time, at 6 p.m., on the south-east tangent, which was crowded with evening commuters on their way home. The driver of a Mercedes with expired German transfer license plates was zigzagging along Vienna's main thoroughfare at well over 100 km/h. The driver finally took over the car. Finally, the driver took the A23 Sankt Marx exit. When he had to slow down because of a traffic jam, police cars got in the way.

16 shots from service weapons
But the driver had no intention of giving up and sped straight towards a police officer between the radio patrol acting as a roadblock and a lane divider. Attempted murder! The uniformed officer and other colleagues fired a total of 16 (!) shots at the limousine from their Glock service weapons, putting their lives in extreme danger.

Subsequently, the amok driver parked the damaged vehicle on Modecenterstrasse in Vienna-Landstrasse and fled into an official building of the Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Office for Immigration and Asylum (BFA).

Heavily armed special units then searched the building, but the psycho perpetrator was able to disappear in the hustle and bustle of the office. When officers stormed the rented vacation apartment of the Austrian license holder in the capital, it was empty.

A manhunt is now underway for the fugitive. In any case, both perpetrators are facing several years in prison.