Friday, March 9, 2018

On Friday, the family lawyer for three of the four victims of a Wednesday evening stabbing in Austria reported they were no longer in life-threatening condition. Police arrested a 23-year-old Afghani man identified only as Jafar S. that night for attacking people with a knife in two separate incidents in Leopoldstadt, the Second District of Vienna, same evening. On Thursday police said Jafar S. confessed to being the stabber in both incidents.

On Wednesday evening, police arrested Jafar S. on suspicion of being involved in the second incident. After the arrest he confessed being the stabber in the first incident too. According to his own declaration, he was in a “bad, aggressive mood” and “furious about his life situation as a whole”. His motive was not political, the Vienna police said on Thursday evening. James S. allegedly had a criminal record for drug addiction, krone.at reported.

At 7:45 pm on Wednesday evening, three members of the same family, a 67-year old dentist with his 56-year old wife and their 17-year old daughter had just left a Japanese restaurant at the Praterstraße. A man with a knife severely injured them near the Nestroyplatz subway station. At 8:15 pm, a quarrel between two Afghani men outside a fast food kiosk on the Praterstern square resulted in another severe stabbing incident, in which a 20-year old man (a Chechen, according to the Kronen Zeitung) was seriously wounded.

Police blocked the road, with about “one or two dozens” policemen allegedly attended the scene searching for the attacker, a witness told CNN. Eight police vehicles attended the scene, krone.at reported.

On Thursday, it was reported from hospital that the condition of three of the four victims (the two women involved in the first stabbing incident and the victim of the second incident) was no longer life-threatening. On Friday morning, the 67-year old man’s condition was also said to be stable.

Jafar S. was allegedly known to the 20-year old victim of the second stabbing incident, whom he “holds responsible for his previous drug addiction”, police said.

In 2015, Jafar S. arrived in Austria as a refugee, but withdrew from the usual asylum procedure.

[edit]