PRAGUE: A 24-year-old student killed more than 15 people and wounded dozens more at a Prague university on Thursday in the Czech Republic’s worst shooting in decades, before authorities said the attacker was “eliminated”.
The deadly violence in the city’s historic centre sparked evacuations, a massive response by heavily armed police and warnings for people to stay indoors.
The shooting erupted at the Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, which sits near major tourist sites like the 14th-century Charles Bridge.
“More than 15 people have lost their lives and at least 24 have been wounded,” police chief Martin Vondrasek told reporters following the shooting.
Emergency services ly reported nine serious injuries, at least five mid-serious and up to 10 light injuries.
Vondrasek said police started a search for the man before the mass shooting as his father had been found dead in the village of Hostoun west of Prague.
The gunman “left for Prague saying he wanted to kill himself,” Vondrasek said. Police suggested earlier the gunman had killed his father.
Police searched the main Faculty of Arts building where the gunman was expected to show up for a lecture, but he went to the faculty’s other building nearby and they did not find him.
“At 1359 GMT, we received the first information about shooting,” Vondrasek told reporters, adding the rapid response unit was on the scene within 12 minutes.
“At 1420 GMT, the officers in action told us about the gunman’s motionless body,” Vondrasek said, adding unconfirmed information showed he had killed himself. Citing a probe into social media, Vondrasek said the gunman was inspired by a “similar case that happened in Russia this autumn”, without going into details. “At the moment, there is nothing to suggest any further imminent danger,” he added.
Vondrasek said no police officer was wounded in Thursday’s action and that police had not yet started to identify the dead by 1700 GMT as pyrotechnicians were at work in the building.
Police evacuated the building, using a concert hall across the street as a temporary refuge for the evacuees.
Czech President Petr Pavel said he was “shocked” by the violence and expressed “deep regret and sincere condolences to the families and relatives of the victims”.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said the “lone gunman... wasted many lives of mostly young people”.
“There is no justification for this horrendous act,” he added. The worst shooting since the Czech Republic emerged as an independent state in 1993 also prompted messages of support from across the world.