A tragic incident unfolded on Thursday at a university in Prague, where a student opened fire, resulting in the loss of at least 15 lives and leaving 30 individuals wounded. Startling images depict young people seeking refuge on the scaffolding of a building during the attack, as reported by officials.
The shooting incident at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts building near the Old Town of the Czech Republic capital, a renowned tourist destination, prompted authorities to respond around 3 p.m. local time, as reported by the Prague police.
Earlier on the same day, the police received a tip that the suspect, identified in local media as 24-year-old David Kozák, was en route from his hometown in the Kladno region to Prague with the intention of taking his own life, according to Police Chief Martin Vondrasek. Tragically, the suspect’s father was subsequently discovered deceased, he further stated.
Following their initial response to the shooting, authorities later confirmed that the shooter had been “eliminated.” However, they also reported the presence of both injured and deceased victims at the scene.
“We have very fresh unconfirmed information from an account on a social network that he was supposedly inspired by one terrorist attack in Russia in the autumn of this year,” Vondrasek stated.
Disturbing posts were discovered on a Telegram account attributed to Kozák, including one shared on December 17 that expressed sentiments such as “I hate the world and want to leave as much pain as possible.” The latest post, dated December 19, mentioned, “I have a ringing in my ears… like some kind of f–king fireflies. I wanted to rip my ears out.”
It appears that Kozák was the registered owner of several firearms.
Authorities have not yet clarified whether the suspect died by suicide or was killed by the police. The circumstances surrounding the suspect’s demise remain unclear.
“We always thought that this was a thing that did not concern us. Now it turns out that, unfortunately, our world is also changing and the problem of the individual shooter is emerging here as well,” Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda said.
Images circulating on social media depict an individual resembling Kozák carrying a large firearm on the roof of the university. Despite the evacuation of the philosophy faculty, authorities were reportedly conducting searches on the building’s balconies for potential explosives.
