Trial after a shooting spree in Linz: “It’s great luck that there were no deaths”

“On January 9th, 2023, some people in the Linz area were very lucky,” the public prosecutor began his indictment and put it into perspective: “It was fortunate that there were no deaths,” because the rampage resulted in several people being injured, some of them life-threatening. If the Iraqi had been sane at the time of the crime, he would have to answer for three counts of attempted murder, dangerous threats, attempted and completed aggravated robbery, and offenses under the Weapons Act.

• Also read: Linz gunman: trial delayed because Arabic interpreter didn’t show up (OÖNplus)

On the day of the crime, the estranged wife of the man, who had already been banned from entering the building several times, wanted to go to the police to report him after another incident. As she and her daughter wanted to leave the apartment, he suddenly appeared at the door. He is said to have threatened the eleven-year-old girl with a knife and used it to inflict three serious stab wounds on the woman. The prosecutor said he then tried to strangle her with a homemade strangulation tool. “She would have succeeded if her daughter hadn’t intervened so courageously.” The girl managed to get her hand between her mother’s neck and the cord, presumably saving the woman’s life. The attacker then fled.

Rival threatened to kill

After the early morning attack, the Iraqi man made his way to one of his wife’s colleagues, whom he saw as a rival, and threatened to kill him. At this point, numerous police officers in heavy protective equipment were already positioned in the Linz area. The 42-year-old is said to have rushed towards a checkpoint on the city limits of Leonding. A police officer was seriously injured and her colleague was critically injured. The man then took his assault rifle from the unconscious officer, the prosecutor said, describing how the situation continued to deteriorate.

• From the archive: Statement from Linz gunman: Woman “ran into the knife”

The man is said to have used the police weapon to steal another road user’s car. This only succeeded on the fourth attempt because a driver refused, the Iraqi was unable to start two other cars, and he continued his escape with the fourth – but only a few hundred meters. Then he caused an accident. He then tried to steal a car again. When the driver refused, he fired the assault rifle, but thanks to a jam, he was unable to fire a shot, according to the public prosecutor. Since a large number of emergency services had now been deployed around the new crime scene, they finally managed to arrest him.

Only confessed on a few points

The person concerned only confessed to a few points. He wanted to dissuade his wife from her divorce plans and had three knives with him – one to kill himself and two to defend himself in case there was a man in the apartment against whom he had to defend himself. He insisted he didn’t want to kill the woman, but admitted that he had attacked her with the knife. “I didn’t know if I actually stung her,” he claimed. According to forensic medicine, the stabs were in the chest, stomach and upper arm and were sometimes life-threatening. He also denied holding the knife to his stepdaughter’s neck – “it’s impossible for me to do something like that” – and choking his wife. The string the prosecutor was talking about was a cat toy that was lying in the apartment.

• You might also be interested in: Gunman threatened officials and interpreters in prison (OÖNplus)

His estranged wife had been questioned in advance in an adversarial manner. Her statements were played via video to save her from having to appear in court. She described him as very jealous. He was also repeatedly insulting and sometimes violent, which is why she was in contact with the violence protection center. After the breakup, he repeatedly appeared near her, hiding in the attic and suddenly standing behind her in the stairwell, and he also called her “non-stop” with changing phone numbers.

• More on the subject: After a shooting: psychiatric hospitalization requested (OÖNplus)

On the day of the crime, she wanted to go to the police with her daughter and report him because he wouldn’t leave her alone. She could only remember fragments of the crime itself. But she still knows that he stabbed her with the knife and then strangled her on a bed. Her daughter “did something and I was free again.” There was a knife on the bed, which she threw out of reach, and a cell phone with which she called emergency services. Her husband then fled.

Due to many reports, the trial is scheduled for two more days. It will continue on January 30th and February 1st.

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