Everything we know so far about the university shooting after gunman kills 14
A horrific mass shooting in central Prague has led to at least 14 deaths including the attacker and here is what we know so far about the massacre.
The bloodshed took place by the philosophy department building of Charles University, where the killer was a student, Prague Police Chief Martin Vondrasek said. The suspected gunman has been named in local media as 24-year-old student David Kozak.
Footage shows people running for their lives as panic struck the city packed with locals and tourists looking forward to Christmas. Pavel Nedoma, the director of the nearby Rudolfinum Gallery, said he saw from a window a person standing on a balcony of the building and firing a gun. President Petr Pavel said he was "shocked" by what happened and offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims.
How the tragedy unfolded
People began running in panic at around 3.40pm local time near the building where the shooting took place which is located near the Vltava River in Jan Palach Square, a busy tourist area in Prague's Old Town. The suspected shooter named by local media as David Kozak, 24, was a student at the faculty of arts of Charles University where the attack took place.
He began firing from the fourth floor of the building and his body was later found by police. A chilling image shared on local media, believed to be Kozak, shows a man dressed in black aiming a rifle at people below while standing on top of a faculty building.
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People pictured sheltering from the shooterMr Nedoma, director of the Rudolfinum Gallery at a concert hall across Palach Square, told Czech TV he saw the shooter finally throwing his gun to the ground. He said: "I saw a young person on the gallery who had some weapon in his hand, like and automatic weapon, and shooting toward the Manes Bridge. Repeatedly, with some interruptions, then I saw as he shot, put hands up and threw the weapon down on the street, it lay there on the pedestrian crossing."
The building is just a few minutes' walk from the picturesque Old Town Square, a major tourist attraction where thousands of visitors have been enjoying a popular Christmas market. Authorities evacuated everyone from the building and police have been searching the area, including the balcony, for explosives. The suspect suffered “devastating injuries” but it is not yet clear if he killed himself or died in an exchange of fire with police.
David Kozak is believed to be the shooter (CZECH POLICE/UNPIXS)Timeline
12.20pm - Police received reports that a 24-year-old man from the village of Hostoun wanted to take his own life. The body of the suspect’s father was found and police, hearing that he was due to give a lecture at the Faculty of Arts in Celetna street, evacuated the building.
2.59pm - Shooting reported at the Faculty of Arts’ building on Palach Square and police arrived in 12 minutes.
3.20pm - Suspected gunman’s dead body found in the university building where a search for explosives followed and paramedics treated the injured.
Who is the suspected gunman
The suspect Kozak is thought to have started his killing spree by shooting dead his father in his hometown of Hostoun, just west of Prague, earlier in the day, and that he had also been planning to kill himself.
He legally owned several guns, and what he did was "well thought out, a horrible act", said Czech authorities with Kozak also having been described as an excellent student who had no criminal record. He was a student at Charles University’s Institute of World History and a student with his name won a prize from the Polish Institute in Prague for a thesis on revolutionary events in 1846.
The suspect was expected to attend a lecture on Thursday in another university building several minutes’ walk away from the arts faculty and that is where police went looking for him ahead of the shooting. Prague police president Martin Vondrasek said investigators were looking at whether the gunman had been "inspired" by a previous mass shooting in Russia, following reports in Czech media that he had posted on social media before the attack.
In one chilling post, he allegedly wrote: "I want to do school shooting and possibly suicide. I always wanted to kill. I thought I would become a maniac in the future." Vondrasek said officers had been tipped off that the gunman "wanted to kill himself" and said investigators were looking at whether the gunman had been "inspired" by a previous mass shooting in another country.
Candles lit after the tragedy (AP)What Czech authorities have said
So far police have not confirmed the identity of the shooter saying that he suffered horrific injuries but he is suspected to be David Kozak. No details have been given yet about the victims.
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Police believe that the victims were randomly selected and authorities said that Kozak had no criminal record. Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said: "It's a horrible crime, something the Czech Republic has never experienced." He did add that officers are working on the theory that today's shooter was responsible for the deaths of another man and his 2-month-old daughter last week in the Klanovicky forest near Prague. Mr Vondrasek said police had evacuated another university building - where the student had been due to attend a lecture on Thursday - before the shooting.
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," Mr Rakusan said. President Petr Pavel said he was "shocked" by what happened and offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala has declared Saturday 23 December a day of national mourning. During the day of mourning, flags will be flown at half-staff and a minute of silence will be held nationwide. Bells across the country will toll for the victims of the attack, according to Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
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