2020 Vienna attacks

2020 Vienna attacks

The 2020 Vienna attack was a series of shootings that occurred on 2 November 2020. A lone gunman opened fire with a rifle in the city center. Four civilians were killed in the attack and 23 others were injured, seven critically, including a police officer. The attacker was killed by police; he was identified as an ISIL sympathizer.

About 2020 Vienna attacks in brief

Summary 2020 Vienna attacksThe 2020 Vienna attack was a series of shootings that occurred on 2 November 2020 in Vienna, Austria. A lone gunman opened fire with a rifle in the city center. Four civilians were killed in the attack and 23 others were injured, seven critically, including a police officer. The attacker was killed by police; he was identified as an ISIL sympathizer. Officials said that the attack was an incident of Islamist terrorism. ISIL claimed responsibility for the attack a day later, calling the attacker a \”soldier of the caliphate\” and posting one of his photos with guns and a knife, and released a video of the attacker pledging allegiance to the leader of ISIL, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi. It was not clear, however, whether ISIL helped plan the attack; the group has a track record of claiming responsibility for lone wolf attacks.

Twenty-three other people were wounded with gunshot and stab wounds; thirteen citizens from Austria, four from Germany, two from Slovakia, and one each from Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, and Luxembourg. Seven suffered life-threatening injuries. Austrian authorities said at 01: 00 that at least one gunman remained on the run, but that afternoon Nehammer said there was no indication of additional attackers. On the morning of 3 November, searches of apartments linked with the perpetrator took place, and in his home they found a stockpile of ammunition.