Burned body found in Austrian farmhouse where gunman fled

Police found a burned body in an Austrian farmhouse where a gunman barricaded himself earlier Tuesday after allegedly shooting dead four men, a police spokesman told dpa.

 

Evidence indicated that the body was that of the suspect, said police spokesman Roland Scherscher.

 

Some 100 police officers had deployed to a stand-off with the gunman, who allegedly killed three police officers and an ambulance driver in the Alpine foothills of Austria on Tuesday, police said.

 

One officer whose car the suspect had hijacked was among the dead and was found in a shed on the gunman's property in Grosspriel, some 80 kilometres southwest of Vienna, police said in the afternoon.

 

The suspect barricaded himself in his farmhouse and fired shots at security forces, after shooting at his victims to evade being detained for alleged poaching.

 

Scherscher had previously told reporters in nearby Lilienfeld that tactical operations were being prepared. It had been very difficult for negotiators to make contact with the man, Scherscher added.

 

Early on Tuesday, police erected a roadblock in a forest near the town of Annaberg, in an operation aimed to catch an unknown poacher who has been active in the area.

 

The 55-year-old suspect drove his car through the roadblock, fired a gun and hit a police officer.

 

The gunman then retreated into the woods, police said.

 

When an ambulance arrived for the victim, the gunman fired another lethal shot at an ambulance driver.

 

"Because of this incident, the rescue operation could only be completed later with an armoured vehicle," Scherscher said.

 

The suspect fled by foot but soon came across a police car and two officers. He killed one of the men and hijacked the car. The second officer was found later found in the car on the suspect's property.

 

Police are investigating whether the gunman is responsible for illegally shooting eight male deers in the area in recent years, whose bodies were left lying in the forest and whose heads had been removed.

 

-Sapa