[Sudden Jihad Syndrome?] Three dead as car rams into crowd in Graz

A four-year-old boy is reported to be one of the three people killed when a man deliberately drove his car into crowds of shoppers in Graz on Saturday afternoon.

Broadcaster ATV reported that the other two victims were a 26-year-old woman and a 28-year-old man.

A witness told the Wiener Zeitung newspaper that dead bodies were left lying face down in the street after the vehicle sped through the historic Herrengasse and Hauptplatz in Graz, Austria's second-largest city, at a speed of over 100 kilometres (60 miles) per hour.

34 pedestrians were injured during the episode - ten of them seriously, with six people reported to be in a critical condition.

The driver of the SUV, reportedly a 26-year-old Austrian man of Bosnian heritage, has been arrested and the area sealed off.

According to a police spokesman, the suspect has "no connection with fanaticism and no terrorist background.” It is believed the man was suffering from personal problems and he has been described as "mentally imbalanced".

Newspaper reports say that he has two children and is going through a break-up with his wife.

The Austria Press Agency cited a police source as saying the driver showed symptoms of "psychosis".

Witnesses told the Kronen Zeitung that he was "laughing" as he accelerated the car, and that he deliberately drove into pedestrians.

"People were screaming in panic and ran into shops to get to safety," an eyewitness said.

The city's mayor, Siegfried Nagl, personally witnessed the incident and told the Kleine Zeitung newspaper that he saw a woman being run over.

The suspect reportedly stopped his car not far from a police station and did not resist arrest.

An earlier report in the Wiener Zeitung that he had also got out of the car and attacked pedestrians with a knife was unconfirmed.

ATV said that the suspect was known to police because of a previous domestic violence incident.

60 police cars and ambulances gathered on Herrengasse and Hauptplatz and four rescue helicopters were called to the scene.

Shoebat has some additional information (from various sources):

UPDATE: BOSNIAN MUSLIM man, Alen Rizvanović, who ran down and killed several people in Austria yesterday, allegedly was a fan of violent jihad and terrorism supporters.
Frontpage When Alen Rizvanović plowed into a crowd in an SUV and then got out and began stabbing people with a large knife, the local media and authorities in Austria insisted that the Bosnian Muslim refugee was A: Mentally ill or B. Reacting to a failing marriage. C. Operating under completely inexplicable motives
The authorities have been quick to rule out terrorism and an Islamic connection, but they may have spoken too soon. Of course we don’t know at this stage know Alen Rizvanović’s motives, but his actions were very similar to Muslim terror attacks carried out in Israel, which also involved running people over and then getting out and stabbing them.
A Facebook account registered to a man of the same name also living in Austria suggests that the killer was a devout Muslim. His favorite book appear to be Islamic texts. They include entries like Light of the Koran and the Hadiths of Mohammed.
More troublingly his likes include this Facebook page which promote Islamists like Mohamad al-Arefe who has been linked to Jihadists.
A notorious Saudi cleric preached at a mosque accused of radicalising three young Britons fighting in Syria.
Although banned from entering Switzerland because of his extremist views, al-Arifi has visited the UK several times. A Sunni Muslim, he has been accused of stirring up tensions with the rival Shia sect, reportedly calling it evil and accusing adherents of kidnapping, cooking and skinning children.
He was briefly arrested by the Saudis, banned from the UAE and from Switzerland for promoting beating women. His views on abusing little girls are sick. In a talk show appearance, al- Arefe gave advice to victims of parental molestation, and urged family members to not call the authorities. According to al-Arefe, “The girl should not be left alone with her father nor should she wear provocative clothing around him.”
And he’s all in on the Jihad.

In another YouTube video cited by the authors of the FDD report, Jonathan Schanzer and Steve Miller, al-Arefe advocates violence against non-Muslims.
“Devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah, and the desire to shed blood, to smash skulls, and to sever limbs for the sake of Allah and in defense of His religion, is, undoubtedly, an honor for the believer,” the Muslim cleric says. “Allah said that if a man fights the infidels, the infidels will be unable to prepare to fight [the Muslims].”

Some skulls were probably smashed when Alen Rizvanović rammed his SUV into a crowd. Alen Rizvanović’s likes also include Naser Oric, a Bosnian war criminal, whom he liked twice. Also liked was Zakir Naikwho had said, “Every Muslim should be a terrorist.”

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.