A 14-year-old boy is dead and at least four other people are injured following a knife attack carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker in southern Austria Saturday, police confirmed. Photo courtesy of the Austrian Federal Police
Feb. 15 (UPI) — A 14-year-old boy is dead and at least four other people are injured following a knife attack carried out by a Syrian asylum seeker in southern Austria on Saturday, police confirmed.
Two of the other victims were seriously hurt while the other two received minor injuries, police in the city of Villach told Kleine Zeitung, the country’s national newspaper.
Police quickly arrested the 23-year-old Syrian man following the attack, which took place around 4 p.m. local time Saturday.
The city is around 20 miles from Austria’s border with Italy and less than 15 miles from its frontier with Slovenia. Villach has a population of around 62,000 people, making it the country’s seventh-largest city.
Saturday’s attack was seemingly random, according to police, with no known connection between the victims and attacker.
“A food delivery driver saw this and drove towards the suspect in his vehicle and — as things stand now – was probably able to prevent him from committing further acts,” Villach police spokesperson Rainer Dionisio told reporters Saturday during a brief news conference.
“This also led to us being able to arrest him immediately, which means that he is currently in police custody and is being questioned.”
Police brought in helicopters to help search for possible further suspects but eventually determined the man acted alone.
Authorities have not yet determined a motive.
“I have never seen anything like this in 20 years of press work,” Dionisio told reporters.
Police did say the man was carrying valid asylum documentation when he was arrested. They are also looking into witness reports the man shouted an Islamist call to prayer while carrying out the attack.
Authorities appealed on social media for any witnesses to contact them, including anyone who may have video of the incident to upload it.
“Do not publish any photos or videos of the operation on social networks — this protects ongoing investigations, the victims and our emergency services,” the country’s Federal Ministry of The Interior said on X in Austrian and translated to English.
The attack Saturday comes just days after an asylum-seeker from Afghanistan injured at least 28 people after driving a vehicle into a crowd of people in Munich ahead of a major international security conference in the German city.