San Candido Tragedy: Who Was Ewald Kühbacher, the Killer Who Killed His Father and a Neighbor?

Behind his work as a baker and security guard. Unemployed for years, Ewald Kühbacher took care of his elderly father, a widower and retired.

A dramatic event took place during the night between Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th August in the small town of San Candido, in Val Pusteria. The 50-year-old Ewald Kühbacher was the protagonist of a terrible massacre carried out with gunshots that decreed the death of two people. It is the killer’s father, the 90-year-old Hermann Kühbacher and a neighbor, Jud Waltraud.

According to initial reconstructions carried out by law enforcement officials, the killer continued to shoot wildly throughout the night, making any type of approach or mediation futile.

The reconstruction of the facts: barricaded in his house, Ewald Kühbacher put an entire village under siege

Although it is not easy to proceed with the exact reconstruction of the tragic event that occurred in the small town of San Candido, here is what emerged from the initial investigations conducted by investigators.

Shortly before midnight on Saturday, August 17, Ewald Kühbacher allegedly argued violently with his father, alerting his neighbor, Jud Waltraud, following the sound of gunshots. The woman allegedly came out of the landing of the house and attempted to disarm the killer on the stairs of the building. Unfortunately, the killer got the better of her, killed her and dragged her body into the house, barricading himself inside until the police arrived.

All attempts at dialogue or mediation were in vain: Ewald Kühbacher continued to fire from the window of his apartment at several cars.

The situation was highly dramatic until the early hours of Sunday, August 18. The residents of San Candido were in fact invited by the Civil Protection to remain indoors until the end of the police operations.

In the end, the intervention of the agents through a blitz was necessary. The carabinieri in fact had to break down the front door through the use of small explosive charges. At that point, the killer, seeing himself surrounded, pointed the gun at his throat and fired, seriously injuring himself. The man, taken to the hospital, he will die a few hours later.

Who was the San Candido killer?

Described by those who knew him as a shy but quiet person, Ewald Kühbacher did not appear to suffer from any mental problems. No sentimental relationship, the man had worked in the past as a security guard and how baker. For years she had been taking care of her 90-year-old father almost exclusively Hermana widower and former gamekeeper. In fact, his son’s passion for weapons, which he collected and legally owned, comes from him.

The mayor of the small town, Klaus Rainerdeclares himself shocked by the dramatic event that has shaken the entire population of San Candido:

“The country is in deep mourning for the loss of our fellow citizens. A dark chapter in the history of our community that will resonate for a long time.”