Vienna: A 23-year-old man allegedly stabbed six passersby in southern Austria in what police said was a random attack that left a 14-year-old dead and five others injured.
The suspect was detained in the city of Villach, where the attack took place on Saturday (Sunday AEDT), police said. He was a Syrian national with legal residence in Austria, they said.
Police spokesperson Rainer Dionisio said a motive was not immediately known. He added that police were investigating the suspect’s personal background.
A pedestrian walk past candles at the site of a stabbing attack in Villach, Austria.Credit: AP
“We have to wait until we get secure information,” he said.
A 42-year-old food delivery driver witnessed the incident from his car, police said. He drove toward the suspect and helped to prevent things from getting worse, Dionisio told Austria’s public broadcaster ORF.
The victims were all men, with two seriously injured and two sustaining minor injuries, police said. Later on Saturday, police said a fifth person, also a man, was injured in the attack.
Peter Kaiser, the governor of the Austrian province of Carinthia, expressed his condolences to the family of the 14-year-old victim.
“This outrageous atrocity must be met with harsh consequences. I have always said with clarity and unambiguously: those who live in Carinthia, in Austria, have to respect the law and adjust to our rules and values.”
Far-right leader Herbert Kickl said on the X social media platform that he was “appalled by the horrific act in Villach” and wished the 14-year-old’s family “much strength”.
“We need a rigorous crackdown on asylum and must not continue to import conditions like those in Villach,” Kickl said.
Conservative party leader Christian Stocker said on X that the attacker “must be brought to justice and be punished with the full force of the law”.
“We all want to live in a safe Austria”, he said, adding that this meant political measures needed to be taken to “avoid such acts of horror in the future”.
The leader of the Social Democrats, Andreas Babler, said on X that “the full force of the law” must be used. “Crimes like this one simply should not happen in our society.”
Austria’s Interior Minister Gerhard Karner was expected in Villach on Sunday morning, according to Austria’s public broadcaster ORF.
Authorities planned to establish a zone in the city centre for those who want to grieve.
Police said it wasn’t clear whether the suspect acted alone and continued to search for potential additional suspects. It wasn’t immediately known whether there was any connection between the suspect and the victims.
The issue of migration has taken centre stage in many European countries, with far-right parties making inroads in elections.
According to the Interior Ministry, 24,941 foreigners applied for asylum in Austria in 2024. The largest group of applicants was from Syria, followed by Afghanistan.
In Austria, migration was a prominent topic leading up to last year’s election, which resulted in the far-right Freedom Party securing its first national election victory since World War II.
On Saturday, police in neighbouring Germany said a two-year-old girl and her mother died two days after being injured in a suspected car-ramming attack during a labour union demonstration in Munich.
AP
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