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Two injured after Vienna shootings

Police were in a shoot-out with an armed burglar in Floridsdorf on Monday evening after catching him and an accomplice breaking and entering a business in Helene-Richter-Gasse, not far from the border with Lower Austria.

Published: 24 February 2015 07:07 CET

Two injured after Vienna shootings

Police at the scene of the shoot-out in Floridsdorf. Photo: APA

Witnesses reported seeing a massive firefight at around 7.45pm, with at least ten shots fired.

One of the burglars, a 47-year-old Austrian man, was critically injured after being hit twice in the upper body and once in the leg.

It has since emerged that he is a convicted double murderer who was sentenced to life in prison for killing a policeman and a drug dealer in 1989.

He was released in 2009 after a psychologist classified him as harmless.

Police spokesman Paul Eidenberger said that he fired two shots at the police, who then pursued him through a housing estate.

After shooting and injuring him police approached him as he lay on the ground and he threatened to detonate a hand grenade.

However, the officers overpowered him and seized a gun and the grenade. None of the officers involved were injured. The man's 63-year-old accomplice did not resist arrest.

The injured man was taken to Vienna General Hospital and is reported to be in a coma, but doctors said his life is no longer in danger.

Meanwhile, in a separate incident, a 31-year-old Serbian man is in a critical condition after being shot in front of a Billa supermarket in Liesing on Monday evening at about 6.30pm in Purkytgasse.

A police spokesman said that a fight broke out among two men over a USB stick. One man shot the other at close range with a handgun and then ran off, leaving the seriously injured man lying on the ground.

Police tracked the gunman with helicopters, using thermal imaging. They surrounded a house but the man was able to escape.

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Are there 'young gangs' forming in Vienna?

Austrian tabloid media jumps on such stories: a group of teenage girls breaking into cars in Linz or vandalism and robberies committed by young people in Vienna. Particularly in the capital, it seems that there was a rise in crimes committed by groups of young people. But does that mean that Vienna has a gang problem?

According to the newspaper daily Der Standard, the Vienna Provincial Police Directorate (LPD) repeatedly states that the much-cited youth gangs do not exist but that there is “an increase in young people appearing in groups and committing offences”.

What does that mean, and what is the difference between “young people appearing in groups and committing offences” and gangs?

According to the police: “The term gang is commonly used in everyday language – without a precise definition in this context. In criminal law, however, the term is clearly defined. From a criminal law perspective, a gang is an organised, hierarchically structured group of people intent on committing offences on an ongoing basis.”

READ ALSO: Which crimes are on the rise in Austria?

According to the police, they are dealing with “groups that come together spontaneously” and are not “hierarchically organised.” These groups mostly commit “thefts or minor robberies” but are not criminal organisations.

So, technically, Vienna does not have a “youth gang” problem, but it does have an increase in young people in groups committing crimes – though the police didn’t share official numbers.

A recent Kurier report stated that the number of crimes committed by young people and children under the age of 14 has doubled in the last ten years.

At the same time, there has only been a slight increase among young people over the age of 14 and even a decrease among young adults. The main crimes committed by young people and adolescents are theft, damage to property, assault, burglary and dangerous threats.

Christian Holzhacker, Head of Education at the Association of Viennese Youth Centers, told Der Standard that it is important not to “stigmatise” an age group and that the word gang is often used in an “inflationary way”. He points out that in relation to the size of the Viennese population, the number of minors committing crimes is small, even if it is increasing.

He also highlighted that stigmatising regions or groups of young people who get together in public spaces is not the answer. “If you want to fight crime, you have to look at the realities of the lives of the people who have committed crimes,” he said.

READ ALSO: Is Vienna a safe city to visit?

What are the police doing about the crime?

Austria’s federal criminal police office has gathered a new special task force to combat youth crime (EJK). According to the Ministry of the Interior, the idea is to recognise the new phenomenon and combat youth gangs in Austria.

The task force is set to carry out checks in public spaces, particularly in urban areas and “potential hotspots”, Kurier reported.

The task force also set up a “panel of experts” to suggest how parents can be more responsible, how children’s use of social media and cell phones can be improved, and how the asylum system can better accommodate young migrants.

However, Dieter Csefan, head of the task force, told Die Presse that most young offenders were born in Austria.

“There are unaccompanied minors, but the young people we meet in the groups and gangs usually have parents. And the prolific offenders often come from a normal home. They can also be native Austrians. So it’s not always just Afghans or Syrians”, he said.

He also mentioned that “lowering the age of criminal responsibility is one suggestion” to fight crime. Currently, the age is set at 18, but there are discussions and proposals to lower it to twelve. However, “that alone is not necessarily enough”, he added.

READ NEXT: Which parts of Austria have the highest crime rates?

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