Vienna shooter was Daesh sympathizer just released by Austria police

The 20-year-old attacker who recently opened fire on Vienna citizens had earlier spent a few months in an Austrian jail for condoning terrorism, but was released shortly before committing the horrendous crime, media reports say.

The Austrian police shot down a gunman after he killed four people in a rampage in the heart of Vienna on Monday night.

The shooter also injured 22 in what was the deadliest attack in Austria’s capital for decades, moving through Vienna’s inner city and shooting at passers-by for nine minutes from about 8 pm, until he was shot dead by police.

The attacker was identified by Interior Minister Karl Nehammer as 20-year-old Kujtim Fejzulai.

The ministry said Fejzulai, a dual citizen of Austria and North Macedonia, had been sentenced to 22 months in jail in April 2019 for attempting to travel to Syria to join Daesh, and had been released early in December.

Fejzulai was born on the southern fringes of Vienna to Macedonian parents - he a gardener and she a shop assistant - on June 24, 2000, according to court documents seen by Austrian weekly Profil and confirmed by a court spokeswoman.

“Since puberty, the accused had massive problems at home, which also led to exposure to violence,” the 2019 documents said.

By the time he was 18, he had drawn the attention of Austria’s domestic intelligence agency, becoming known as a follower of extremist ideology.

Fejzulai attempted to cross the border from Turkey into Syria in 2018 but was caught and deported to his native Austria, the country’s security chief Franz Ruf said on Wednesday.

The Vienna criminal court sentenced Fejzulai to 22 months in prison in April 2019 for being a member of a terrorist organization and for spreading propaganda.

Daesh claims responsibility for Vienna attacks

The Takfiri Daesh terrorist group claims responsibility for the recent deadly shooting attacks in the Austrian capital of Vienna, which left four people dead and nearly two dozen others injured.

Due to his young age, he had to serve only a third of the sentence and was released in December 2019.

The court had found that Fejzulai, a football fan, appeared to be “open-minded and accessible”, “certainly reflective and cognitively well structured”.

Little is known about his life after that, except that he took part in a de-radicalization program, which was still ongoing when he went on his killing spree.

Nehammer said Fejzulai had posted a photo on his Instagram account before the attack, showing himself with two weapons that he was believed to have used, Reuters reported.

Videos circulated on social media of a gunman running down a cobbled street shooting and shouting. One showed a man gunning down a person outside what appeared to be a bar on the street where the synagogue is located, then returning to shoot the injured person again. 

Daesh finally claimed responsibility for the Monday attack, proving that Fejzulai was one of their sympathizers in the heart of Europe.

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