Austria police detain 14, give new details on Vienna killer

(L-R) President of the Austrian council Wolfgang Sobotka, Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz pay their respects to the victims of a shooting in front of wreaths in Vienna on Nov. 3, 2020. (AFP)
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  • Fejzulai, a dual Austrian and Macedonian national, was previously convicted of a terror offence for trying to travel to Syria
  • Nehammer said he had been on a de-radicalisation programme and had managed to secure an early release

VIENNA: Austrian police have arrested 14 people in raids linked to Monday's deadly attack in Vienna and have found no evidence that a second shooter was involved, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said Tuesday.
"There have been 18 raids in Vienna and Lower Austria and 14 people have been detained," Nehammer told a televised press conference.
The minister added that police believe that the attack in central Vienna was carried out by a lone gunman, Kujtim Fejzulai, a 20-year-old Daesh sympathiser who was killed by police on Monday night.
The video material evaluated by the police "does not at this time show any evidence of a second attacker," Nehammer said.
Fejzulai, a dual Austrian and Macedonian national, was convicted of a terror offence in April last year for trying to travel to Syria.
Nehammer said he had been on a de-radicalisation programme and had managed to secure an early release.
"The perpetrator managed to fool the de-radicalisation programme of the justice system, to fool the people in it, and to get an early release through this," the minister said.