A student opened fire at a university in Prague Thursday, killing at least 14 people, and injuring more than 20 in the Czech Republic’s worst mass shooting. The massacre took place in the philosophy department building of Charles University, where the shooter was a student.
The gunman also died, authorities said. Officially his name has not been released. However, some media reports, including the UK’s Daily Mail, identified him as David Kozak. So far, no details about the victims or a possible motive for the shooting at the building located near the Vltava River in Jan Palach Square.
David Kozak — Killer of his father, another man and a baby
Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said investigators do not suspect a link to any extremist ideology or groups. Prague Police Chief Martin Vondrasek said police believe the gunman killed his father earlier Thursday in his hometown of Hostoun, just west of Prague, and that he had also been planning to kill himself.
He is reported to have written in a chilling Telegram post: “I want to do a school shooting and possibly suicide.” Not only that, he is suspected of shooting dead a man and his newborn baby in a “random” attack at a forest near the Czech capital last week. Notably, the Police chief also described the shooter as an “excellent student” with no criminal record, but didn’t provide any other information.
‘Owned several guns’
Media reports said the gunman suffered “devastating injuries” but it wasn’t clear if he killed himself or was shot to death in an exchange of gunfire with officers. The shooter legally owned several guns — police said he was heavily armed Thursday and was carrying a lot of ammunition — and that what he did was “well thought out, a horrible act,” Vondrasek said.
The government quickly sought to quell concerns that the massacre was backed by foreign interests. “There’s no indication that it has anything to do with international terrorism,” Rakusan said. “It’s a horrible crime, something the Czech Republic has never experienced,” he said.
The Czech government declared Saturday a national day of mourning to honor the shooting victims, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said. Previously, the nation’s worst mass shooting was in 2015, when a gunman opened fire in the southeastern town of Uhersky Brod, killing eight before fatally shooting himself.
(With agency inputs)
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