A heavily armed man, Monday night, opened fire on people outside cafes and restaurants near the Seitenstettengasse synagogue. Two men and two women were shot dead; and six of the 16 people wounded have life-threatening injuries.
According to eyewitness, Vienna Community Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister, at least two gunmen shot at least 100 rounds in front of the synagogue compound. "They were attacking the guests of bars and pubs," he told UK talk radio station LBC. "People were jumping and running, falling over the tables, running inside the bars followed by the gunmen also running inside the bars."
Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch said he synagogue was closed at the time the attack began.
A video circulating online shows a man carrying a rifle and wearing a white shirt and beige trousers firing shots towards a building. A male voice can be heard shouting “Asshole, motherfucker” at the attacker from one of the buildings. Another video shared by European counter-terrorism officers showed a puddle of blood by the entrance of a restaurant.
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said the four victims were an elderly woman, an elderly man, a young male passer-by and a waitress.
One of the members of the special forces who arrived at the scene, was shot and critically injured before one of the attackers was "neutralized." The terrorist was armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and a machete. The incident began at about 20:00 local time, and the terrorist was shot dead at 20:09.
Police said they were not certain how many attackers were on the streets and several people have been arrested.
Following the attack, a major anti-terrorist operation swung into action and police set up roadblocks around the city center. The army has been deployed in the capital to back up law enforcement, as a widespread search continued on Tuesday.
According to reports in the Austrian media the terrorist was 20-year-old Kujtim F, a dual citizen of Macedonia and Austria.
Addressing a news conference, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer described the dead gunman as an "Islamist terrorist," jailed for 22 months in April 2019 after trying to get to war-torn Syria to join Islamic State (IS) jihadists. He was released early last December under more lenient terms for young adults.
Nehammer, said the terrorist posted a picture on his Instagram account before the attack, showing him brandishing what looks like the two weapons he used.
The Interior Minister said police had searched the home of the dead terrorist and seized video material. Police said he had been wearing a fake explosive belt.
Chancellor Kurz said the "repulsive terror attack" was clearly driven by "hatred of our way of life, our democracy." He said the nation was engaged in a battle "between civilization and barbarism."
Reacting to the attack, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was "deeply shocked by the terrible attacks" while Germany's Angela Merkel said "the fight against Islamist terrorism is our common struggle."
"Our prayers are with the people of Vienna after yet another vile act of terrorism in Europe," United States president Donald Trump wrote on Twitter. "These evil attacks against innocent people must stop. The U.S. stands with Austria, France, and all of Europe in the fight against terrorists, including radical Islamic terrorists."