VIDEO | The film of the Vienna atact. The last unrestricted hours before lockdown, stifled in terror

The first attack took place last night at around 20.00 in Seitenstettengasse in central Vienna, a busy street, where the synagogue is also located, as well as the Vienna State Opera. There were several restaurants and cafés in the area that were full of people.

“They fired at least 100 rounds right in front of our building,” Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister recalled. He told reporters that he saw at least one person shooting people outside the street from the window above the main synagogue in Vienna, writes The Guardian.

Student Chris Zhao was in a restaurant on Seitenstettengasse when the attack took place. He told the BBC he heard between 20 and 30 bangs ringing like firecrackers just after 8 pm.

The manager locked the door to the restaurant at first, but when he left Zhao he says he saw several people injured and a body. “We didn’t know what was going on,” he said.

Another witness told Austrian public broadcaster ORF that an armed man began firing at random on groups of people sitting at tables. Police crews arrived at the scene shortly after, but in the shooting, one of the officers was shot and wounded. Soon his colleagues managed to shoot the perpetrator, who was armed with an automatic rifle, a pistol and a mace.

6 attacks in different locations

Restaurant staff locked the doors and told people to move away from the windows before special forces police entered the building and told everyone to leave and flee to Schwedenplatz, away from the initial attack.

The attacks didn’t end there. “six different places” were targeted, police said, all in the immediate vicinity of Seitenstettengasse: Morzinplatz, Salzgries, meat market, farmers’ market and Graben.

Dramatic scenes in the centre of Austria’s capital: individuals shooting at random

Another clip posted by people on social media shows a man armed with a rifle and dressed in a white shirt and beige pants firing multiple shots into a building. A man’s voice is heard against the background of the recording shouting at the attacker.

More than 20,000 videos capturing scenes from the terrorist attack were sent by people to the Vienna Police. A team of 35 forensic officers is working on these videos, Interior Minister Karl Nehammer told a press conference on Tuesday morning.

At least four people were killed – one of them being an attacker shot outside St. Rupert’s Church, his body strung with a belt of explosives and a bag of ammunition. Police later said the belt was fake. Another 15 people were taken to hospital injured, seven of whom are in serious condition, authorities said.

The center of Vienna was studded with law enforcement. Special forces “Cobra” was alerted immediately after the first call announcing the attack in central Vienna.

All available units in the Austrian capital, as well as in Graz and Linz, were sent to the site. Images from the scene of the bombings were frightening: wounded people lying in a pool of blood and people terrified of fear.

Dozens of ambulances came to pick up the victims at the hospital and give the wounded first medical care.

People got stuck in buildings, traffic messed up

Patrons and employees at cinemas, opera houses and theatres were also detained for hours inside buildings until authorities secured the area and told them they could go home. Moreover, public transport was messed up and taxis did not enter the affected area.

Several suspects were arrested after police raids in Vienna, Austrian media report.

Lea, who gave only her first name, lives in Vienna’s 2nd neighborhood. She said she normally spends evenings in the lively neighborhood of the city targeted by the attack. Instead, he was at home, while helicopters were spinning overhead.

‘The situation now is really scary, my phone rings all the time because everyone is so worried. It’s heartbreaking. We hope that the police can find all the shooters and no more people have to die,” she told The Guardian.

At the press conference held this morning with the Minister of the Interior and the Vienna Police, the authorities came up with a number of recommendations for the population.

“My thoughts in these difficult hours are with their victims and relatives. We’re thinking of the dead and wounded, including a police officer. I’ve been through an attack by an Islamist terrorist. There are currently investigations that I cannot disclose at this time. For the people of Vienna: if possible, stay at home. There’s no schooling today, so if you can leave your child at home today, please do so,” Nehammer says.