Gunfire erupted in central Vienna on Monday night, and the police said several people were wounded. A government official briefed on the matter said that at least one of those shot was a police officer, and that a gunman had been captured.
It was not clear how many people had been hurt, or how seriously.
“At the moment we assume there are several perpetrators, unfortunately there are also several injured, probably also dead,” said Karl Nehammer, Austria’s interior minister.
He called the shooting a terrorist attack.
The shooting took place in the center of the Austrian capital, hours before the midnight start of a nationwide lockdown, one of several being imposed in Europe to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
The area where the shooting took place is packed with bars and Vienna’s main temple, the Seitenstettengasse synagogue, but it was not clear if they had any connection to the violence.
The president of the Jewish Religious Community in Austria, Oskar Deutsch, said on Twitter that the shooting had occurred “in the immediate vicinity” of the temple, but that it was closed at the time.
“It is not clear right now whether the main temple was the target,” he said.
Police officials described a chaotic situation, with several “exchanges of shots.” Emergency vehicles blocked off streets and a streetcar line through the area was shut down.
Bystanders posted dramatic videos.
Several people posted dramatic videos of what appeared to be the shooting and its aftermath.
One video showed people aiding a wounded person lying in a pool of blood, just outside a restaurant on Ruprechtsplatz and less than a mile from the Austrian Parliament building. Several chairs in the restaurant’s outdoor area had been overturned, as if abandoned in a hurry.
Another video showed a man in civilian clothing firing a rifle twice down a street.
On Twitter, the Vienna police pleaded with witnesses not to post videos and pictures to social media, but instead to send them to the authorities.
Melissa Eddy, Christopher F. Schuetze and Katrin Bennhold reported from Berlin. Christoph Koettl reported from New York.
