In the centre of the Czech capital, Prague, 14 people were killed and 25 were injured in a mass shooting at a university campus on Thursday. The perpetrator, a 24-year-old student at the university, was also killed.
Just before 16:00 on Thursday, Czech police were informed of a shooting in the buildings of Prague's Charles University.
An initial official assessment showed that ten deaths had been reported, but the death toll was revised to 14 on Thursday evening. Additionally, 25 people were injured, with 12 in critical condition. They were all taken to hospitals in the area.
Students and university staff were asked to stay indoors, turn off the lights and barricade the doors of classrooms. Dozens of students tried to hide on ledges and window sills on the outer walls of the university building.
Credit: X
According to eyewitnesses, the gunman shot people from the roof of the university, after moving through the corridors of the building with a gun and shooting people there as well. When the police arrived, the gunman also fired several shots at them.
The perpetrator also died. The police said that it seems as if the gunman killed himself after the shooting, but as the police took the gunman under fire, there is no definite cause of death yet.
What is known about the perpetrator?
The perpetrator is said to be 24-year-old David Kozák, Czech police told The New York Times. Kozák was a history student at Prague's Charles University. The police added that Kozák possessed a large number of weapons.
Telegram messages published by Kozák in recent days paint a picture of a deeply unhappy and confused man. Between 9 and 19 December, he posted several messages entitled "my diary on the way to the school shooting." Czech police confirmed that the posts came from him.
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Among other things, he wrote (in Czech) that "everyone" hated him, that he had a "worthless life" and that he wanted to "leave the world in as much pain as possible." He also said he had wanted to kill for some time. The Telegram channel had long been private and was opened by him a few hours before the shooting.
Kozák may not have been acting alone: his girlfriend is said to have helped him, police told an editor of the Dutch daily de Volkskrant. The woman is a fugitive and may have already left the country.
What was his motive?
While Kozák's exact motive remains unclear, he was allegedly inspired by shootings abroad. On Telegram, he referred to 'Alina', most likely referring to Alina Afanaskinova, who shot dead two people at her school in Bryansk (Russia) on 7 December. According to Czech Interior Minister Vít Rakušan, there is no link to "international terrorism."
Several hours before the university massacre, Kozák also fatally shot his father in Hostoun, some 20 kilometres from Prague.
He may also have been linked to a double murder last week in the Klánovický forest, where on 15 December, two people were shot dead: a 32-year-old man and his two-month-old daughter. Police are still looking for the culprit, but according to police chief Martin Vondrasek, a search at the house of the gunman's murdered father has led to a possible link.
