22 December 2023 , 10:17
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The gunman who massacred 14 people in the Czech Republic's deadliest shooting took his own life because he knew police were closing in on him.
Police revealed today that as armed officers swept through the university building where David Kozak carried out his rampage, the gunman killed himself when he was surrounded on a rooftop.
The information came during a press conference in the Czech capital today, as members of the emergency services involved in the operation discussed the timeline of events and showed terrifying police bodycam footage. In the clips, students could be seen being lead from the building with their hands up, as officers roamed the halls searching for the suspect.
The head of the armed response unit said that Kozak, who was on the roof, shot himself with a shotgun as he knew armed officers were inside the building searching for him.
Kozak, a lone gunman, shot dead 14 people and injured 25 others in a sickening rampage at Charles University in downtown Prague. Authorities in the city say the atrocity is the Czech Republic’s worst mass shooting. It later emerged he had killed a man and his newborn baby in a "random" attack at a forest days earlier.
Gunman opens fire in synagogue in city just days after posting Nazi imagery
Kozak had randomly shot people from the balcony of the building, and had a huge arsenal of weapons and ammunition with him. It has since emerged that, in the lead up to his killing spree, Kozak kept a diary in Russian on messaging app Telegram, writing in one chilling post: "I want to do a school shooting and possibly suicide."
Pictures show the gunman, dressed in black, aiming a rifle at people below on the campus. Terrified students and tourists were seen fleeing while others crouched beneath a window ledge on the high building.
A police spokesperson today told reporters that all of the 25 injured victims had now undergone surgery and are in a stable condition. He listed details of the grim injuries, which included gunshot wounds to limbs, chests and heads. Thankfully, the quick actions of the emergency services will allow them to make a full recovery, the spokesman added.
David Kozak is accused of killing his father a week before the rampage (social media, Check police/ East2west News)
One of the weapons found in the police operation (CZECH 24 TV/UNPIXS)The director of Prague Police said he saw "piles of ammunition in the corridor", adding that it was his department's quick response that prevented further bloodshed. Authorities confirmed that many of the students managed to escape the gunman's sights by barricading themssleves into rooms. Police then went floor by floor to release them, the official told journalists today. “We created a safe corridor and through the safe corridor, everybody was told to go outside," the official said.
There are fears that tourists could be among those killed or the 25 injured in yesterday's shooting, with police working to identify the victims and saying they will contact embassies with updates in the event of foreign nationals being affected in the atrocity. So far three of those wounded are said to have been foreigners - two from Saudi Arabia and one from the Netherlands. The Foreign Office has so far not cofirmed any Brits among those involved.
Authorities yesterday stressed the death toll could have been greater. Police have sealed off the square and the area adjacent to the university building, which is located in a busy part of town that has a popular street leading tourists to Old Town Square.
Police also said Kozak is suspected in the killing a dad and his two-month-old daughter at a forest in the east of Prague just one week ago. A search of the 24-year-old student's home led to police to believe this is the case. More than 250 police officers were sent to search the area and a helicopter with thermal imaging was used to scour the woodland area, but the gunman was never found.
The forest near Klanovicky is just a 30-minute drive from the university. However, police understand the victims of the double killing days ago were not known to Kozak and they were "completely randomly selected".