Taser as a rescue – Linzer wanted to be shot by the police

A man from Linz wanted to die at the hands of an executive: “Suicide by Cop”. The 49-year-old intended to force officers to shoot. First, he threatened passersby with a broken glass bottle and a knife and waved at police officers ordered to the crime scene on Wiener Strasse. Again and again he attacked her, the knife in his right hand and the shards in his left.

Attacker incapacitated for work
But the officials held their ground. And what was decisive was the presence of police officers from the “Rapid Intervention Group”. In addition to the service weapon, they are also equipped with tasers, an electric shock device that fires two dart electrodes with 14 millimeter long needles at a distance of up to seven meters. And at a favorable moment the officer fired: 50,000 volts paralyzed the nervous system of the Linzer, he could not move immediately. Since the current is only 2.1 milliamps, the risk to the “blooded” is extremely low. In this case, a possible fatal shot was prevented by the service weapon and the man from Linz was arrested.

Two cases of “cop suicide” in Upper Austria
“Suicide by Cop” is very rare in Upper Austria. Most recently in 2020 in Altmünster, where a 50-year-old had himself shot and confessed to the pastor. He shot at a police car, was hit four times and died. The investigation into the police officer who pulled the trigger has been dropped.

Previously, in 2000, there was a lethal use of firearms in Upper Austria. Although hit twice, a bank robber (38) in Linz had again targeted officials. In 2018, a Mühlviertler wanted to rob a bank and be shot – he was arrested without a shot in Grein.