Terrorist Attack in Austria Leaves 2 Dead and at Least 15 Wounded

Multiple gunmen opened fire in central Vienna on Monday night, killing at least two people and wounding many others, including a police officer, government officials said, The New York Times reports.

One of the attackers was also killed, they said.

At least 15 people were wounded in the attack and were being treated in hospitals, according to the spokesman for the hospital association. At least seven were wounded seriously, according to Vienna’s mayor.

“It is definitely a terror attack,” said Austria’s chancellor, Sebastian Kurz.

Early Tuesday morning, the interior minister, Karl Nehammer, said that at least one of the attackers was still being sought. He described the perpetrators as “heavily armed and dangerous.”

The Vienna police said the attack, which began around 8 p.m., involved “several suspects armed with rifles.” The gunmen opened fire in six different locations as they made their way through central Vienna, officials said.

The shooting took place in the heart of the Austrian capital, hours before the midnight start of a nationwide lockdown, one of several being imposed in Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

“We have become the victim of a disgusting terror attack that is still going on,” Chancellor Kurz said in a televised address to the nation just before midnight.