After the shooting incident in Austria's capital, Vienna, this week, German Police on Friday raided the homes and businesses of four individuals linked to the Islamic State sympathizer who carried the deadly shooting.
The Austrian government announced that many officials would be removed temporarily due to their committed errors before the shooting incident and ordered the closure of two mosques in Vienna, which had been visited by the gunman before the attack.
Together with members of the anti-terrorism unit GSG9, the German police searched the premises of the central city of Kassel, Pinneberg county, which is close to Hamburg, and Osnabrueck, which is located in the northwest region of the area, The Associated Press reported.
The German police shared that while the four individuals were not currently suspected as of the moment in their involvement in the shooting incident on Monday, there was evidence available that they had links to the shooter.
Aside from the four people killed during the attack, the gunman was also killed but not before inflicting wounds to 20 other individuals, including a police officer responding to the attack.
Federal prosecutors of Germany shared that two of the men whose premises were searched believed to have met the shooter in Vienna this summer; the third man had established communication with him online before. The fourth individual had no direct contact with the shooter but was in touch with persons who knew the attacker.
Prosecutors also mentioned that they were trying to collect possible evidence while searching and clarified that nobody was arrested.
According to ABC News, Austrian authorities have identified the attacker as Kutim Fejzulai, a 20-year-old man, a dual national of Austria and North Macedonia, who had been previously convicted for trying to join the IS in Syria and had been given an early release only in December.
Despite the tip coming from authorities of Slovakia regarding the shooter, that he had tried to purchase ammunition at a shop in Bratislava way back in July, Austria did not put the 20-year-old man under observation, prompting for an investigation to be launched.
Aside from the four individuals, authorities in Austria have searched up to 18 homes and detained 15 persons in the country in connection to the shooting incident.
Four among them have been convicted of terror-related crimes, and a number of them had criminal records.
On the other hand, Swiss authorities also took two persons into custody this week.
Amid concerns that the authorities missed those warning signs, which led up to the attack, officials mentioned on Friday that Vienna's regional anti-terrorism agency head has stepped down from his post. Several officials who are involved in the investigation have also been replaced, SFGate reported.
Karl Nehammer, the Interior Minister, shared with the reporters that for them officials, those were intolerable mistakes in the investigation.
The authorities in Austria also announced that they had ordered the closure of the mosques in Vienna frequently visited by the attacker. An estimated 70 police officers were involved in shutting down the two mosques on Friday.
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