A man has stabbed five people in southern Austria, including a 14-year-old boy who has died from his injuries.
The 23-year-old man attacked five passersby in Villach on Saturday afternoon, according to police.
Officers said the suspect is a Syrian national with legal residence in Austria and has been detained.
A 42-year old man, who was driving by and saw the incident from his car, drove towards the suspect and helped prevent things from getting worse, police spokesperson Rainer Dionisio told Austria’s public broadcaster ORF.
The victims were all male and aged between 14 and 32. Two were seriously injured and two sustained minor injuries, and the teenager died, police said.
Mr Dionisio said they had not yet determined a motive but were investigating the suspect’s background.
“We have to wait until we get secure information,” he said.
The weekend attack shocked people in the city of Villach, a southern town in the province of Carinthia, which borders Italy and Slovenia.
Carinthia governor Peter Kaiser expressed his sympathy for the family of the teenage boy who was killed.
“This outrageous atrocity must be met with harsh consequences,” he said.
“I have always said with clarity and unambiguously – those who live in Carinthia, in Austria, have to respect the law and adjust to our rules and values.”
Police said it was unclear whether the suspect had been acting on his own or with other people, and are continuing to look for potential further suspects.
Meanwhile in Germany on Saturday, police confirmed a two-year-old girl and her mother had died after a car had been driven into a crowd in Munich on Thursday.
