2015 Graz Attack

On 20 June 2015, a vehicular and stabbing attack took place in the centre of Graz, Austria, beginning at about 12:15 p.m. Alen Rizvanović drove a green Daewoo Rexton sport utility vehicle at speeds of up to 100 kilometres (62 mph) per hour into pedestrians and cyclists. According to a spokesperson, the attack began in Zweiglgasse, where one victim died, before Rizvanović drove over the Augartenbrücke and into Herrengasse, where he killed two more people. He then crashed the vehicle into a café's outdoor seating area in the Hauptplatz, the city's main square, where an event connected to the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix was under way. During the attack, Rizvanović briefly got out of the car, ran to an elderly couple in front of a grocery shop, and stabbed them, severely wounding the man. He then drove to a police station on Schmiedgasse, where he was arrested without resistance. A witness compared the sound of chairs and tables being knocked over by the vehicle to a "gunfight." The attack lasted about five minutes; sixty ambulances and four helicopters were sent to take the injured to hospitals.

Three people were killed immediately in the attack, and a total of 43 others were wounded, including at least three children — six of them seriously and one critically. A fourth victim died in hospital months later. Most of the victims were struck by the vehicle; some were stabbed. The identity of one of the people killed was not established for several weeks.

Rizvanović was 26 years old at the time of the attack. He had come to Austria as a four-year-old refugee with his parents during the Bosnian War and later became an Austrian citizen; he worked as a truck driver. He was subject to a restraining order filed on 28 May 2015 that kept him away from his wife and two young children's home, after a domestic violence report was filed against him the month before; police also revoked his weapons licence and confiscated a semiautomatic firearm and ammunition belonging to him. A clear motive was never established. Police ruled out a religious or ideological motive within a few hours of the attack, though Rizvanović told police after his arrest that he felt persecuted by "Turks," and Austria's Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism was reported to be interested in him. He had more than 2,500 followers on Twitter, many from Arab countries and at least one a suspected neo-Nazi, and deleted nearly all of his tweets and messages after the attack except for one that indicated the crime was premeditated. A remand was imposed on him on 23 June 2015.

Rizvanović was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2016. On the morning of 23 September 2023, he was found dead in his solitary cell at the Stein Correctional Facility; his death was ruled a suicide.

Austrian president Heinz Fischer said he was "deeply shocked" by the attack. Interior minister Johanna Mikl-Leitner, visiting the scene, called what happened "unthinkable" and said "there is no excuse for it." Styrian governor Hermann Schützenhöfer said there was "no explanation and no excuse" for the attack. Graz mayor Siegfried Nagl, who witnessed part of the rampage from his scooter, ordered public events in the city cancelled and black flags of mourning raised on municipal buildings.