Teenager charged

Boy pulls out gun in garage: “Shoot yourself!”

The 17-year-old friend "disposed of" the weapon.(Bild: Scharinger Daniel)

After an argument escalated in a shopping center in St. Pölten, two teenagers (17 and 18 years old) are now on trial in Lower Austria for making dangerous threats and suppressing evidence. The trial was adjourned.

"Come to the garage if you're a man" was the clear message from a teenager towards his opponent in the Promenade shopping center in St. Pölten. Spurred on enough by further insults, the latter did not take long to respond. "We're going to fight", reinforcements were quickly rounded up.

Threatened with a gun
It came to a big showdown in the middle of the state capital. The argument came to a dramatic head in the garage: one of the five boys suddenly pulled out a folding knife. An 18-year-old then pulled out his pistol and pointed the barrel at his opponent. "I thought to myself, this is certainly not going to end well," explained a security guard who had been watching the group for some time and had followed the brawlers from the basement into the garage as a precaution.

Now the 18-year-old and his 17-year-old buddy had to stand trial for making dangerous threats and suppressing evidence. "I'll shoot you", the 18-year-old is said to have threatened his opponent with a drawn gun.

Trial was adjourned
Having been charged in court, he then gave the weapon - a blank-firing pistol - to his friend without further ado to throw it away. The 17-year-old is well aware that he made evidence disappear. "I feel guilty about it," he says on the record. After two witnesses were absent without excuse, the trial was adjourned.