“Salzburg-Austria: Somali knife pyromaniac shot by police officers,” translated from “Salzburg: Somalischer Messer-Pyromane von Polizisten angeschossen,” Exxpress, January 17, 2022 (thanks to Medforth):
In Salzburg’s Liefering district, police officers stopped a dangerous Somali man by shooting him after the alleged firebug first started a fire and then attacked people in the burning house and also the police officers with a knife. Several people, including the alleged perpetrator, were injured.
In Salzburg, the professional fire brigade was alerted to a room fire in Aribonenstraße shortly after 4 a.m. after flames broke out on the third floor of a residential building. A large number of firefighters were able to extinguish the fire and evacuate a total of 30 residents of the house. Seven people had to be brought to safety using a turntable ladder. The evacuated people were temporarily accommodated in a nearby hotel and were cared for by the Salzburg Red Cross. Three people had to be taken to the LKH Salzburg, two of whom suffered smoke inhalation, “Salzburg 24” reports.
According to the fire brigade, the fire led to heavy smoke development, the apartment in which the fire broke out was completely destroyed. The cause of the fire was not known at the time the fire was extinguished, but in the course of initial police investigations, arson was quickly suspected – not least because a knife crime crime took place at exactly the same time.
Because while the fire brigade was being informed about the fire, the police received further emergency calls that a person with a knife had run out of the exact same apartment building where the fire was blazing, threatening residents and passers-by. The suspect also attacked a caller with a knife for no apparent reason, but without injuring him. The perpetrator then fled.
During the immediate search, a police patrol stopped the suspect in the area of the street Linke Glanzeile. However, the perpetrator did not follow the police instructions and attacked the police officers with a knife, according to a police statement. In order to stop the attack, the police officers fired three shots, according to current information. The perpetrator was injured to an unspecified extent in the area of the thigh. After initial treatment, he was temporarily arrested and taken to Salzburg University Hospital.
