"It was an accident"

Neighbors shot dead in Vienna: 19 years in prison

The accused Viennese man and his defense attorney Astrid Wagner.(Bild: Zwefo)

On October 10 last year, a fatal shot rang out through a municipal housing complex in Vienna's Donaustadt district. A 33-year-old Iranian man did not survive. The shooter—his 50-year-old neighbor—is now telling the jury a completely new version of events. Was it self-defense or an accident? The jury clearly finds it to be murder—19 years in prison. 

"It is undisputed that the defendant fired the shot," begins the prosecutor in the Vienna Regional Court. The big question, however, is: under what circumstances? The prosecutor accuses the 50-year-old of cold-blooded murder. On October 11, 2025, the Viennese man is said to have opened the door to his neighbor in the middle of the night and killed him with a single shot from his revolver.

Techno music blared through the public housing complex
The unemployed man and his Iranian neighbor had a history: "They lived on the same floor, door to door. There were repeated disagreements," said the prosecutor. This was particularly because the 50-year-old often listened to loud techno music until the early hours of the morning – the bass boomed through the entire public housing complex in the 22nd district. And that is exactly what is said to have happened on the night of the crime.

He then took his revolver, tucked it into his waistband, and went to the door.

Staatsanwältin im Mordprozess

The accused Viennese man and his defense attorney Astrid Wagner(Bild: Zwefo)

The music was so disturbing that the victim (33) knocked on the defendant's door. "He then took his revolver, tucked it into his waistband and went to the door," the prosecutor described. First, the Viennese man punched his neighbor hard, then he fired from a distance of less than a meter. 

Accident, self-defense—or murder?
"It was more or less an accident," the 50-year-old tried to justify himself to the jury. A previously unknown responsibility – he told the police it was self-defense because the Iranian had simply attacked him with a knife. However, no such knife was ever found. The Viennese man now admits that he made it up: "I panicked."

The two men lived next door to each other in a municipal housing complex in Vienna's Donaustadt district.(Bild: Oliver Papacek)

He tells the lay judges a new story: he had a fever and had already consumed medication and alcohol that day. "Normally, when I'm sick, mulled wine helps me." After a nighttime visit to a gas station, the 50-year-old returned home – the 33-year-old had simply kicked his door wildly. "He then attacked me quite violently," claims the defendant. 

Suddenly, the shot was fired.

Verteidigerin Astrid Wagner

Bild: Martin A. Jöchl

"He took the gun to look tough," says defense attorney Astrid Wagner. Her client neither assumed that it was loaded nor did he intend to shoot. "Suddenly, the shot was fired," says Wagner, pleading negligence. 

The fact that the Austrian shouted "Heil Hitler" several times during his arrest and made xenophobic remarks was dismissed. If convicted, this would no longer be relevant. For the jury, the circumstances are clear: murder – 19 years in prison. The verdict is not yet final.