Bio

Alen Rizvan Rizvanović left Bosnia with his parents when he was four years old. They went to Austria as refugees during the Bosnian War. He later became an Austrian citizen.

As an adult, Rizvanović worked as a truck driver. He married and had two young children.

On 28 May a restraining order was filed that kept him away from the home of his wife and children after a domestic violence report. Because of the restraining order, police revoked his weapons licence and took a semiautomatic firearm and ammunition that belonged to him.

Murder Story

On 20 June 2015 at about 12:15 p.m., Alen Rizvanović drove a green SUV-type Daewoo Rexton at high speed through the centre of Graz, Austria. He hit pedestrians and cyclists and intentionally caused harm. The vehicle reached an estimated speed of up to 100 kilometres per hour.

The attack began in Zweiglgasse, where one person died. Rizvanović then drove over the Augartenbrücke and into Herrengasse, where two more people were killed. He later crashed into the seating area of a café in the Hauptplatz. An event related to the 2015 Austrian Grand Prix was taking place there.

During the incident, Rizvanović got out of the car and ran up to an elderly couple in front of a grocery shop. He stabbed them with a knife and wounded the man severely. He then drove to the police station at Schmiedgasse and was arrested by police without resistance.

Witnesses said the attack lasted about five minutes. One witness compared the sounds of chairs and tables being knocked over by the vehicle to a "gunfight". Sixty ambulances and four helicopters were sent to take the injured to hospitals.

Three people were killed immediately and 43 others were wounded. At least three of the wounded were children. Six people were seriously hurt and one was in critical condition. One person died in hospital months later. Some victims were hit by the car and some were stabbed. The identity of one fatality remained unknown for weeks.

Rizvanović was 26 years old at the time. He had fled with his parents to Austria during the Bosnian War as a child and later became an Austrian citizen. He worked as a truck driver. A restraining order filed on 28 May kept him away from the home of his wife and two young children after a domestic violence report. Police revoked his weapons licence and confiscated a semiautomatic firearm and ammunition.

Police said the motive was not immediately clear and they ruled out religious or ideological motives a few hours after the attack. Rizvanović told police he felt persecuted by "Turks". Reports said the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and Counterterrorism showed interest in him. There were claims he had shifted to a stricter interpretation of Islam. Before the attack he had more than 2,500 followers on Twitter and he deleted most of his posts, leaving one that indicated the crime was premeditated.

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 officials expressed shock at the attack. Graz mayor Siegfried Nagl, who witnessed the event from his scooter, ordered events in Graz to be canceled and flags of mourning to be raised on municipal buildings.