VIENNA, March 11 -- The Austrian Association of Judges called Saturday called for tighter courtroom security measures following an attack by a plaintiff in Linz that left five people dead. Austrian courts need to be brought up to the level of other European countries in order to prevent future attacks, the association told the Austrian broadcast agency ORF.
The outcry follows Friday evening's bloodbath in a Linz courthouse, in which a man -- angered at a judgment against him -- pulled out a pistol and began firing. The 64-year-old retiree identified as Rudolf Kehrer killed two judges, the prosecuting lawyer, the defense lawyer and a witness. He also shot two other people in the courthouse, and both were hospitalized. The man then drove from the scene to his weekend house about 15 miles (20 km) away, where he committed suicide. The pensioner had brought charges against a neighbor about the use of a garage. As the verdict in favor of the neighbor was being read, the man became aggressive and pulled out a pistol, according to witnesses. 'I heard shots, then screams and then more shots. It was horrible,' one witness told the daily Die Presse. A judge told the same newspaper, 'I have seen a lot of crime scenes and a lot of murders, but what I saw today was the single most horrid thing I have had to witness.' Police are also investigativing how Kehrer was able to obtain a pistol, since he had been denied a gun license in the past because of medical treatment for aggression. Authorities raided Kehrer's house in 1987, finding hundreds of bullets, guns and bomb-making material, police records show.
