VIENNA (AP) — A man apparently distraught over personal issues drove his SUV into a crowd in Austria’s second largest city Saturday, killing a 4-year old and two adults, officials said.
Police in the city of Graz said 34 others were injured, with six victims, including two children, in serious condition. They said there were no indications of a terrorist attack, and the suspect was apparently distressed over personal problems when he targeted his victims.
The governor of Styria province, Hermann Schuetzenhoefer, described the suspect as a 26-year-old Austrian truck driver who was “mentally disoriented” and acting alone. He was arrested shortly after the incident.
Police commander Josef Klamminger told reporters that the man had been under a restraining order keeping him from the home of his wife and two children since a domestic violence report against him was filed last month. He was being psychologically evaluated after his arrest.
State broadcaster ORF cited unnamed witnesses as saying the man apparently drove his vehicle at high speed into the crowd at random, sending several people crashing into the windshield and flying over the vehicle.
About 60 ambulances converged on the scene and the Austrian auto club sent four helicopters to bring the victims to hospitals. Witnesses quoted by Austrian media said they saw at least two bodies covered with blankets lying on a cordoned-off section of pavement.
By early evening, dozens of floral bouquets and lit candles were placed at the site. Mayor Siegfried Nagl ordered black flags of mourning flown from all municipal buildings and cancelled all street fests and other city events.
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This story has been corrected to show the man was driving a SUV, not a van.
What the hell does “mentally disordered” mean? Is that supposed to explain his behavior? Cuz statistically, most murders are not committed by people with mental disorders. Some, yes. More likely this guy was waaaayy over stressed and just snapped. Unless, of course, I’m wrong, which I often am, and he was actually a paranoid schizophrenic who was responding to internal stimuli and thought he was running over devils.
Actually is says “mentally disoriented”, but at first glance I thought it said “disordered” too.
Awesome, another missing reading glasses fail. Still, mentally disoriented? It just sounds dismissive. Guy snapped. I’d like to know what was stressing him out THAT much. That would help me understand.
Fortunately, our daughter passed through this pedestrian zone about 10 minutes before this happened.
Also, we chose not to cancel our concert, but instead opened with a moment of silence. Our performance of Mauersberger’s Wie liegt die Stadt so wüst (text from the Lamentations of Jeremiah on the destruction of Jerusalem, written after the fire-bombing of Dresden) was definitely affected by the situation.
To the two of you nitpicking about “mentally disordered” and “mentally disoriented” - translating geistig verwirrt is not an attempt at remote diagnosis. The phrase was used not by a medical authority, but by a politician apparently trying to calm the public. We know a bit more this morning, and it seems that the restraining order mentioned in the article could have led to his snapping.
It’s not nitpicking, brother. This is obviously a politician trying to calm the public. But too often politicians use qualifiers like “disgruntled employee” or “mentally unstable individual” or variations thereof to try to mitigate the effect of these tragic events. My point was simply that this deflection sometimes serves to minimize the seriousness of mental health issues and people who suffer from them, at least in the US. My apologies for my cultural ignorance. This individual not only ran through a crowd in his automobile, but then got out and started stabbing the victims also. That’s pretty serious snapping. On this father’s day, as I look at my daughter, I am glad your daughter is safe, and my heart goes out to the families affected in Graz.