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Police kill armed robber leaving two injured

At least two policemen were wounded, one seriously, in a shootout between armed police and an alleged supermarket robber on Saturday evening in Vienna. The suspect is reported to have been killed.

Published: 2 July 2016 20:34 CEST
Police kill armed robber leaving two injured
Armed Austrian police officers. Photo: YouTube screenshot

The incident is reported by news daily Heute to have taken place around 6:10 p.m. at a branch of the Billa supermarket chain in Hütteldorferstraße.  

According to local witnesses, the event took place near the Hanusch hospital.  Two employees are believed to have been held at gunpoint in the supermarket after it was closed.

The dead robber has been identified as a Bosnian man (49), who is a suspect in at least two previous robberies.  He was armed with a pistol with a silencer, and was described by police spokesman Paul Eidenberger as “a professional.”

Reports suggest two police officers were shot, with one being seriously injured with a head shot, and the other with a wound on his hip. A third officer was lightly injured. 
 
The seriously wounded police officer was immediately taken to Vienna's general hospital by rescue helicopter for an emergency operation.
 
The Bosnian suspect is believed to have been shot and killed by the WEGA armed police unit, when they encountered him in a nearby stairwell.
 
Initial reports of an accomplice have been denied by a police spokesman. A police helicopter and armored vehicle were deployed for the operation.
 
Witnesses report a large area was cordoned off while police searched for a second suspect, with none found.
 
According to a spokesman, a silent alarm was trigged at 18:10, with the market normally closing at 18:00.  A team of regular police responded immediately, cornering the suspect, who allegedly opened fire on them, wounding two officers, one seriously.
 
The suspect was able to briefly escape from the Billa market, but then encountered the WEGA armed response team, who fatally shot the man in a second gunfight.

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POLICE

Why are Vienna’s police officers trying to get away from the capital?

Austria's Ministry of Interior is grappling with a surge in police transfer requests from Vienna. Police unions have warned the situation is worsening morale and contributing to staffing shortages.

Published: 3 September 2024 16:53 CEST
Why are Vienna's police officers trying to get away from the capital?

A growing number of police officers in Vienna are applying for transfers to other federal states, but lengthy waiting times have frustrated many. 

According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior (BMI), 580 civil servants in Vienna have submitted transfer requests, for a total of 799 across Austria. Despite these applications, the waiting list is long, and it can take several years, or even more than a decade, for a transfer to be approved.

Newspaper Kurier reported on one such case. Alex M (the officer asked to remain anonymous, the report said) is a Vienna police officer waiting 13 years to transfer to another state. M. initially applied for a transfer to Lower Austria but also to a second federal state without success. “Every year, you only move up a few places. It’s very gruelling,” he told the newspaper.

READ ALSO: How Austria wants to attract more police officers

Why are officers ‘fleeing’?

Kurier said the primary reason for M.’s desire to transfer is the overwhelming amount of overtime required in Vienna, a complaint voiced by other officers. Police officers in the capital logged over 2.2 million overtime hours last year alone, with some, like M., working up to 140 extra hours per month, Kurier said. 

Most police officers in Vienna come from other federal states, and many wish to return to their home regions after a few years of service. However, the high number of transfer requests and the limited availability of positions in other states mean that only a few requests are approved yearly.

‘It’s important to come clean’

Police unions have expressed concerns about the impact of these long waits on morale and the broader staffing crisis in Vienna.

Walter Strallhofer, a police unionist, criticised the unrealistic expectations set during recruitment. “Police students from the federal states are promised during recruitment that they will soon be able to leave Vienna. But that’s not true. It’s important to come clean with people. When you come to Vienna, you stay here for at least the next ten years.”, he said.

READ ALSO: When are police officers in Austria allowed to use their weapons?

Exceptions to the long wait times are made only in cases of social hardship, such as serious illness of family members. 

The BMI is exploring options to speed up the transfer process, including adjusting admission quotas to accommodate more officers from states with high transfer request numbers.

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