Shot in Revenge

Shots Fired at a Vienna Bar: “I Knew What I Was Doing”

The 35-year-old is brought in from pretrial detention—after all, the charges involve two counts of attempted murder.(Bild: Gerhard Bartel)

After a Croatian man was beaten up by a group of men, he is now on trial in Vienna for two counts of attempted murder. Instead of calling the police, he retrieved his illegal handgun from his car and fired it. He is getting off very lightly before the jury court. 

Several people are chatting outside the bar in Vienna’s 15th district. They’re standing in small groups—a woman is sitting in an armchair smoking a cigarette. Suddenly, the defendant’s BMW X5 pulls up, comes to a stop, and the 35-year-old jumps out of the car. He fires his pistol twice into the air and once at the bar’s glass door. 

Two counts of attempted murder?
Now the Croatian man finds himself standing trial before a jury at the Vienna Regional Court. The charge: two counts of attempted murder! He aimed directly at two men, who apparently managed to flee into the bar just in time. Fortunately, no one was injured. Only the glass door was left with a sizeable hole in it. 

Gun drawn in revenge
The three shots fired on the night of July 6, 2025, were not without reason, however: “I was angry and felt it was unfair that something had happened again,” says the 35-year-old. He had already clashed with the rival group more than once. That evening at the bar, too, five of them had provoked him, eventually dragging him out onto the street, throwing him to the ground, and kicking and punching him. Video footage shows the chaotic scenes on the sidewalk on Märzstraße. 

I had the feeling that they didn’t believe it was a real gun.

Dann drückte der Kroate noch einmal ab.

“Then I took the gun out of the center console of my car. I knew exactly what I was doing. I immediately fired two shots into the air.” As a way to intimidate them or as a warning. “They ran inside and I followed them. I had the feeling that they didn’t believe it was a real gun,” says the Croatian. To prove otherwise, he aimed at the glass door and pulled the trigger. 

The defense team of Rudolf Mayer and Anna Mair are certain that he did not do this with the intent to kill. The 35-year-old says himself: “I knew it was a double glass door. I had spoken with the restaurant owner beforehand to ask if the door was soundproof.” – “Just because a door has good sound insulation doesn’t mean a bullet can’t go through it,” the presiding judge interjected. “The caliber was too small for that.” How does he know that? “I learned that during my security training. And besides, everyone in the Balkans deals with this,” says the hobby shooter, who did not, however, legally own the pistol.

From up to life imprisonment to a few months
The jury believed the defendant’s account: What began as two counts of attempted murder ultimately resulted in a charge of making a dangerous threat and endangering physical safety. The 35-year-old was sentenced to 21 months of probation—the verdict is not yet final. By the way: Members of the other group are also under investigation...