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15. 01. 10. - 15:00

Shooting suspect escaped police station week before, cops admit

By David Rogers

An alleged Serb mobster suspected of gunning down a Vienna policeman this week escaped from a Lower Austrian police station just a week before the shooting, it emerged today (Fri).

Mihailo Vasic, 33, was held in custody in Königstetten on 4 January this year after it was discovered he had ignored a ban on being in Austria.

But he managed to flee the station in "an unguarded moment", Sonja Fiegl, the police chief in Lower Austria’s Tulln district, said.

She added officers had chased him and fired six shots at him, but had failed to catch him.

Vienna police said today they suspected Vasic had fled abroad after the shooting.

Spokesman Mario Hejl said: "There is a high probability that he is abroad."

He added the hunt for Vasic was continuing. "We have received many tips but few of any quality," he said.

Meanwhile, Dr Harald Hertz, head of the Lorenz-Böhler hospital where the shot policeman is being treated, said today: "He will remain in an artificial coma at least over the weekend." He added the condition of the man’s lungs has not improved as much as doctors had hoped.

Police are hunting Vasic after a man was ordered to pull over last Tuesday after a BMW he had been driving at the time went through a yellow light at a junction in Vienna. But he sped off instead, abandoned his car and fled on foot. He then opened fire on the pursuing 27-year-old officer, seriously injuring him.

Local media have reported Vasic is part of the Serbian mafia.

Austrian Times

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