Heroic action almost cost him his life:A customer at a gas station in Innsbruck has been shot in the stomach after he tried to approach a masked gunman carrying out a robbery.
The injured customer, a Kenyan who is a long term resident in Tirol, is now in a stable condition following an operation in a clinic in Innsbruck.
The incident happened around 10pm on Tuesday when the customer tried to follow the gunman after he had threatened the gas station employee and demanded cash from the till.
The gunman, who police describe as having a normal stature and speaking German with a foreign accent, was wearing a thinly knitted balaclava. After shooting the customer in the stomach he made off with hundreds of Euros.
Police commended the courage shown by the customer but said that his actions are not advisable in any case. It’s not really wise to reach out to a man who has robbed a gas station and has a gun in his hand, the head of state criminal police Walter Pupp warned.
Pupp also said that pursuing a perpetrator is problematic as their appearance and any abnormalities have to be observed as well as the direction in which they leave the scene.-Austrian Times
