Neighbor (19) in custody

Houses evacuated: “We didn’t know what was going on”

Neighbor Wolfgang Aigner describes the scenes of arrest and evacuation.(Bild: Krone KREATIV/Doris Seebacher)

There was wild speculation - from murder to a potential terrorist bomb - in the Lower Austrian town of Ternitz. A 19-year-old Austrian with North Macedonian roots was arrested there on Wednesday morning - among "neighbors you could only wish for". Many people don't speak on camera - but neighbor Wolfgang Aigner does.

After the evacuation in the morning, the police operation was still in full swing in the afternoon. The police have so far confirmed that several houses and a retirement home were evacuated in the course of an arrest.

The "Krone" asked around on site. Not only is there great uncertainty there, there are also the wildest rumors as to why the police suddenly cordoned off the area and people had to leave their homes.

North Macedonian model neighbors
It is a North Macedonian family whose 19-year-old son was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday morning. In an interview, neighbor Wolfgang Aigner sheds some light on the case.