Man who killed four in Vienna terror attack had served time for trying to join the Islamic State

An individual who fatally shot four, wounded others and was ultimately killed by police in Vienna, Austria on Monday had formerly attempted to join the Islamic State group in Syria, Austrian authorities said on Tuesday.

“Yesterday’s attack was clearly an Islamist terror attack,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said, according to the Associated Press. “It was an attack out of hatred — hatred for our fundamental values, hatred for our way of life, hatred for our democracy in which all people have equal rights and dignity.”

The suspect was said to be an Austrian-North Macedonian dual citizen who had formerly been convicted for seeking to join the Islamic State. Fourteen individuals affiliated with the attacker were detained and are facing questioning, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer noted.

Police in North Macedonia said that two additional dual citizens were on a suspect list provided by Austria while police in Winterthur, Switzerland noted that two people had been arrested there based on consultation with Austrian authorities, the AP reported.

“The fact is that the terrorist managed to deceive the judicial system’s deradicalization program” to secure his early release, Nehammer said, according to the wire service.

Investigators had uncovered "no indication of a second perpetrator," Nehammer noted, according to the AP. “But because the evaluation is not yet concluded, we cannot yet say conclusively how many perpetrators are responsible for the crime.”