He shot 2 people in Austria: amok hunter found dead in the forest

The Austrian amok hunter and double murderer Roland Drexler is dead! He was found on Saturday in a forest in the municipality of Arnreit (Austria). This is what the “Oberösterreichische Nachrichten” reports, citing investigative circles. The police confirmed the discovery and are currently assuming a suicide.

Until Saturday it was suspected that the amok hunter Austria could still be very close to the scene of his crime.

A walker found the perpetrator’s car on Friday morning in the forest near Partenreit in the Rohrbach district, where his hunting area is also located – very close to the place where Roland Drexler killed two people with targeted shots in the head. The witness got to safety as quickly as possible and alerted the authorities.

Villages in fear

The people in the small villages in Upper Austria have lived in fear of the double murderer’s return for the past few days. The police Feverishly searched the area between Arnreit and Altenfelden in the Austrian Mühlviertel at night with 250 emergency services, mantrailer dogs, thermal imaging cameras and helicopter drones. Empty buildings, huts and sheds were combed through. But there was no trace of the man who shot two people in cold blood. He had been on the run for six days.

The All Saints’ Day processions were canceled in small towns on Friday, streets were partially closed and residents were asked to stay at home. And the question that was on everyone’s mind: Where is the violent hunter Roland Drexler (56) hiding? And: Is he perhaps already planning his next act? Now it is clear: the man who murdered in cold blood is dead.

“Very, very dangerous”

50 people who could be on the man’s possible death list have been brought to safety in the past few days as a precautionary measure. Police described Drexler as “very, very dangerous.” The “fanatical hunter,” as the “Kleine Zeitung” described him, is said to have been armed with two long guns and a handgun. According to police, he was a “ticking time bomb.” In the end, his aggression was apparently directed at himself.

He knew the area like no one else

On Monday morning, early this week, He first shot the mayor of Kirchberg ob der Donau, Franz Hofer († 64, ÖVP) in front of a foot care salon and shortly afterwards the retired police officer Josef H. (64) in his house. The motive: suspected hunting disputes.

How did a man manage to hide for days from a large police force including sniffer dogs? The police actually thought he was in a camper van, but the trail led nowhere. Drexler knew the area better than the police. As a hunter, he could read tracks, cover up tracks, and knew every shack and every hut, no matter how remote, in the forest near Partenreit.

“We will search until the man is found,” promised police spokesman Michael Babl to the “Kronen” newspaper. Because: Murder does not expire. The amok hunter has now escaped his punishment.