The Austrian Police have launched a major operation to arrest an armed and “extremely dangerous” man who fled this Monday after allegedly killing at least two people. One of the victims is the mayor of the town of Kirchberg ob der Donau, in the Upper Austria region.
“RD, 56, is suspected of killing two men in the district of Rohrbach on the morning of October 28, 2024,” the Upper Austrian Police management said in a statement. The authorities consider that the armed man is “extremely dangerous”, so they urge the population to avoid contact with him.
Police have deployed a large-scale operation in the region, with heavily armed police units, including armored vehicles and members of the Cobra special unit, to capture the alleged fugitive killer. The perpetrator of the crime has allegedly fled in a silver Volkswagen vehicle.
The alleged murderer would be a “hunter” and “the background of the crime could be linked to disputes in the hunting sector,” notes the Austrian agency APA, while public television ORF points to “differences over the allocation of hunting rights.” ”. These speculations have led to the closure of the Rohrbach district administrative offices to the public.
The public television ORF assures that “several sources” confirmed that one of the victims is the mayor of Kirchberg (Rohrbach district), Franz Hofer, a 64-year-old amateur hunter and member of the conservative People’s Party (ÖVP). The second deceased was later found in Arnreit, in the same district, according to the newspaper Die Presse.
The authorities have also confirmed a second victim, found shortly after the mayor’s lifeless body was discovered, who shows obvious signs of having been shot dead. Several local media report that a third person has been murdered, but this information is not confirmed by the Police, who have not revealed the identity of the victims.
