A 17-year-old has confessed to killing two homeless people in Vienna. According to his own words, the teenager acted out of anger and specifically chose defenseless and “easily available” victims, said Gerhard Winkler from the Vienna State Criminal Police Office. “The perpetrator didn’t care about homelessness.” The teenager turned himself in at a police station on Monday in the presence of his lawyer, the authorities confirmed a report on Tuesday Crown newspaper.
A 56-year-old and a 55-year-old were killed in the knife attacks on sleeping homeless people in July and August 2023. A 51-year-old woman survived another attack with injuries. The suspect prepared very carefully for the attacks, said Winkler. During nighttime patrols, he checked, among other things, whether there were surveillance cameras near the crime scene. He also wore a mask. Nevertheless, the investigators managed to discover a suspicious person on a camera recording. It was said that the publication, the general pressure of the search and also the guilty conscience ultimately caused the 17-year-old to go to the police. He could no longer live with this burden and “wanted to get the guilt off his chest,” said Winkler.
The suspected murder weapon, a 23 centimeter long knife, was found hidden in a sofa following a tip from the 17-year-old. Care facilities for the homeless responded to the three atrocities by offering more places to sleep.