[AH] Police in Austria have launched a manhunt after gunmen opened fire at multiple locations across central Vienna, killing at least four people and wounding several more in what Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz described as a “repulsive terror attack”.

One of the suspected gunmen, identified as an Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group sympathizer, was shot dead by police who said they were searching for at least one more assailant still at large.

Fifteen people were injured in the attack in the center of the capital, among them a police officer, Austrian Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Tuesday.

The attacks, in six locations including near a synagogue in the centre of the city, were carried out by “several suspects armed with rifles”, police said on Monday night.

Authorities are still trying to determine whether further attackers may be on the run.

“It sounded like firecrackers, then we realized it was shots,” said one eyewitness quoted by ORF.

A shooter had “shot wildly with an automatic weapon” before police arrived and opened fire, the witness added.

The Interior Minister Nehammer repeated calls for the public to stay at home on Tuesday in an early morning televised news conference. He called the incident an attack on Austria’s values and democratic society. “The attacker sympathized with the militant terrorist group IS,” he said referring to ISIS. The interior minister however, declined to elaborate, citing the ongoing investigation.

Earlier, Mayor Michael Ludwig told public broadcaster ORF that one person was killed at the scene of the shootings, and a second person – the woman who was wounded during the attack – died of her injuries in the early hours of Tuesday.

The attack began at about 8pm (19:00 GMT) on Monday, when several men armed with rifles opened fire – starting outside the city’s main synagogue – as many people took advantage of the last evening before a nationwide curfew took effect because of COVID-19.

Officials said schools would be closed on Tuesday.

Frequent sirens and helicopters could be heard as emergency services responded to the shootings, and a large area of central Vienna was cordoned off.

Thomas Mayer, the European Editor at Austria’s Der Standard newspaper, told Al Jazeera that “there are police everywhere and the city centre is closed”.

“The problem is there are so many people who went to restaurants and bars to have some joy in the last evening before lockdown (and now) these people cannot go home,” he added.

“We are experiencing difficult hours in our republic,” Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Twitter, adding that the army would protect sites in the capital so the police could focus on anti-terror operations.

“Our police will act decisively against the perpetrators of this repulsive terror attack,” he said. “We will never be intimidated by terrorism, and we will fight this attack with all means”.

The assailants, Kurz later told ORF, were “very well-prepared” and “very well-equipped, with automatic weapons”. ‘At least 100 rounds or even more’

Nehammer had earlier described the incident “an apparent terror attack”.

“We have brought several special forces units together that are now searching for the presumed terrorists. I am therefore not limiting it to an area of Vienna, because these are mobile perpetrators,” he told ORF.

While the shootings began near Vienna’s main synagogue, Jewish community leader Oskar Deutsch said on Twitter that it was not clear whether the synagogue and adjoining offices had been the target.

He added that they were closed at the time.

Rabbi Schlomo Hofmeister told London’s LBC radio he was in the compound of the synagogue when the attack took place.

“Upon hearing shots, we looked down [from] the windows and saw the gunmen shooting at the guests of the various bars and pubs,” he said.

“The gunmen were running around and shooting at least 100 rounds or even more in front of our building,” he said.

Bars and restaurants were packed with customers at the time of the shooting.

Eveline, a witness, described the moment people started to run after hearing gun shots.

“Suddenly the shooting started, at first we did not know what it was … Then there was shooting again, but closer, so we started to run away,” she told The Associated Press news agency.

“Because we did not know if we were running in the right direction, we ran into a hotel and hid there.”

Many European leaders took to social media to express their shock at the shootings.

On Twitter, French President Emmanuel Macron said France “shared the shock and grief of the Austrian people … This is Europe. Our enemies must know who they are dealing with. We will never give up.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “deeply shocked” at the attacks, and said Britain stood united with Austria, a sentiment shared by Mark Rutte, Prime Minister of the Netherlands.

“Our thoughts are with the victims and their families, and with the Austrian government in dealing with this heinous act,” Rutte wrote on Twitter.

Roman Catholic archbishops in two different cities, Portland and San Francisco, have performed exorcism rituals in the middle of the streets hoping to get rid of any evil spirits that might have been left around from the recent protests.

In Portland, Oregon, Archbishop Alexander Sample led a procession of more than 200 people to a city park on Oct 17 as a part of his public exorcism, according to Oregon Live. On the same day, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone performed a similar ritual outside of a Catholic church in San Rafael, where protesters previously toppled a statue of Father Junipero Serra. It is not clear if the two events were connected or if it was just a coincidence that they took place on the same day.

“We pray that God might purify this place of evil spirits, that he might purify the hearts of those who perpetrated this blasphemy,” Cordileone said.

Father Junipero Serra was a missionary priest who lived in the 18th century. Serra is an extremely controversial figure due to the violent campaign that he waged to convert Native Americans to Catholicism.

Cordileone used Latin in many of his incantations, telling local reporters that “Latin tends to be more effective against the devil because he doesn’t like the language of the church.”

These rituals are very strange, even according to religious scholars, who say that nothing like this has ever happened in the US. Religious studies professor Andrew Chesnut of Virginia Commonwealth University recalled that a somewhat similar ritual took place in Mexico in 2015, when some high-ranking Catholic clergy performed an exorcism to expel demons across the whole country.

Exorcisms are more traditionally performed on people.

A police officer from Florida was recently arrested after he was caught performing a strange exorcism on a child holding a taser, while another child was given a gun and instructed to shoot anyone who entered the home. 37-year-old Christopher Dougherty reportedly told the two children that there were demons in the house. According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, Dougherty was fired from the department on an unrelated matter on the same day of his arrest, but he had worked with the sheriff’s office since 2006. The children said that Dougherty was performing an exorcism on the young boy, and told the girl that there were demons in the house, and instructed her to shoot anyone that entered.

The 2014 horror film “Deliver Us From Evil” is based on the true-life story of New York City Police Sgt Ralph Sarchie, who was an exorcist in his spare time. Sarchie described himself as a “demonologist” and claimed to have taken part in at least 20 exorcisms, but says that he investigated over 50 paranormal cases. In 2001, Sarchie co-wrote the book Beware the Night about his experiences as a part-time demon hunter in New York. His book would eventually inspire the horror movie that came later.

Exorcism began to decline in the United States by the 18th century and rarely occurred until the latter half of the 20th century when the topic began to get more media attention. Interest also sharply rose after the release of the horror film “The Exorcist.”

Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who is charged with shooting and killing two protesters at a demonstration in Kenosha, Wisconsin, will be extradited to Wisconsin, from his home state of Illinois. The order was made by Judge Paul Novak, who also rejected claims from defense attorneys that the charges against Rittenhouse were politically motivated, according to WGNTV.

Rittenhouse’s lawyer, John Pierce, argued that “This Illinois child must go free,” and be allowed to stay in Illinois. Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Stephen Scheller said that the law is very clear that a US citizen can’t claim sanctuary in one state while they are suspected of committing a murder in another.

Judge Novak said that he would consider halting a cross-state extradition under certain circumstances, like if the suspect was not yet charged, or the identity of the suspect was in doubt, but none of those conditions applied in this case.

Rittenhouse is facing charges of first-degree intentional homicide, which carries a sentence of life in prison. He is also charged with attempted intentional homicide and a misdemeanor charge of underage firearm possession.

Rittenhouse had traveled to the protests with a militia group that organized online and claimed to be assisting police and protecting private property during the demonstrations. The details of exactly what happened are still being investigated and debated, but at some point during the protest, Rittenhouse shot a protester multiple times.

Rittenhouse then began to try to get away from the area, but protesters who witnessed the shooting chased after him and tried to stop him. When the group caught up with Rittenhouse, another person was shot and killed after a short scuffle. After that, Rittenhouse was able to walk right past the police and leave the city. In one of the videos taken by witnesses, Rittenhouse can be heard saying “I just killed somebody.”

The video that Rittenhouse’s legal team will likely use shows an angry mob chasing after Rittenhouse, and then him firing at a person who he had an altercation with. If this was where the incident began, then this would surely be proof of self-defense, but the fact that the angry mob was chasing him because he had already killed someone changes the situation and its legal implications entirely. The trial will likely focus on that first encounter to determine whether or not Rittenhouse acted in self-defense, as his attorneys claim.

Despite his young age, Rittenhouse was an extremely enthusiastic supporter of the police and even joined the cadet program. His social media pages are filled with “Blue Lives Matter” banners and photos of him posing with guns. Rittenhouse has also seen support from many conservatives who viewed him as a peacekeeper during the riots. After the killing, video footage surfaced showing the young man punching a girl in the head.

Former classmates of Rittenhouse at Lakes Community High School told VICE News that he was notorious for having a bad temper and going out of his way to start arguments with people who he perceived of having left-wing political opinions.