Among the wounded are three foreigners — two from Saudi Arabia and one from the Netherlands. The university where the attack took place, Charles University, was founded in 1348 and is Czech Republic’s oldest and most prestigious college. It is hugely popular with foreign exchange students, including Americans.
Citing unconfirmed information from social media, Czech police head Martin Vondrasek said the gunman was inspired by a “similar case that happened in Russia.” Earlier this month, a Russian teen shot and killed a fellow student before shooting herself in the city of Bryansk. Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan said investigators do not suspect a link to any extremist ideology or groups or international terrorism.
Police identified the shooter as “David K.” Local media reported his full name is David Kozak.
Authorities received a tip off earlier on Thursday that the suspect, who had no criminal record, had left for Prague from his town in the nearby Kladno region “saying he wanted to kill himself.” His father was found dead soon after.
Following the tip off, police searched a Faculty of Arts building where the gunman was expected to show up for a lecture. Instead, he went to the faculty’s main building nearby where shots were fired at around 3 p.m. local time on Thursday. The gunman had a “huge arsenal of weapons and ammunition,” police said.
Videos posted by witnesses on social media showed locals and tourists running from the area. The building where the shooting took place is in Jan Palach Square, a busy tourist area in Prague’s Old Town, named after a Czech student who died from self-immolation protesting Soviet occupation in 1968. While students and university staff barricaded themselves into rooms others were seen fleeing through windows before precariously sheltering on the edges of the building.
Police said late Thursday they they believe the gunman killed a young man and his two-month-old daughter in a stroller in a forest on the outskirts of Prague on Dec. 15, a case that has gripped the country over the last week.
Early Friday, as people lit candles at an impromptu vigil, the government declared a national day of mourning on Dec. 23. Flags on official buildings will be flown at half-staff and a minute’s silence will be observed at noon.
Police stepped up security at schools and other “soft targets” Friday as a preventive measure, while Charles University cancelled all lectures and events.
The shooting led to an outpour of condolences from world leaders. “The president and the first lady are praying for the families who lost loved ones and everyone else who has been affected by this senseless act of violence,” White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters. “Federal authorities are in touch with Czech authorities as they investigate this incident.”
Despite having more permissive gun laws than most of its European neighbors — even allowing concealed carry with a permit — the Czech Republic requires citizens to take strict tests before being able to obtain weapons.
Mass killings are rare but not unheard of. In 2019, a gunman killed six people at a Czech hospital in the city of Ostrava before turning the gun on himself. Four years earlier, a gunman shot eight people and himself in the town of Uhersky Brod.
De Vynck reported from Brussels.
