[ad_1]
A gunman has killed 14 people in a university building in Prague on Thursday, police confirmed.
Czech police raced to a shooting at Jan Palach Square in the city centre shortly after 3pm, later adding the gunman’s body had also been found in the area.
Images and videos on social media show crowds of people fleeing the scene. One chilling picture shows eight students perched on a ledge high up on the faculty in an apparent bid to hide from the gunman.
Authorities have confirmed that the suspected killer was a student at the university but withheld his identity when speaking press on Thursday afternoon.
A further 25 people were also injured, 10 of them seriously, Prague‘s Police Chief Martin Vondrasek told reporters.
Here’s everything we know about the shooting and suspected gunman so far:
Police said they were still searching the area on Thursday afternoon, including the balcony, for possible explosives.
(AFP via Getty Images)
What has happened?
Czech police said shortly after 3pm that they were responding to a shooting at Charles University’s faculty of arts building in Jan Palach Square, central Prague.
An email sent to staff and students at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University had said a shooter was in one of its buildings and had told staff to “stay put”.
Images and videos on social media show crowds of people running from the square and another appears to show students hiding on a ledge from the gunman
Images and videos on social media shows eight students perched on a ledge to hide from the gunman
(Instagram)
The square has now sealed off with people urged to leave the surrounding streets and stay inside.
Prague’s rescue service confirmed that 15 people had died, including the killer, and that at least 30 others suffered various injuries, including nine with serious ones.
What do we know about the suspect?
Czech Police confirmed that the suspected gunman was a student at the university when he opened fire on his classmates.
His motives are not yet known and he has not been linked to any extremist ideology, but said police had found the suspect’s father dead before the mass shooting.
Police are working on the theory that the gunman was responsible for the deaths of two people last week in the Klanovicky forest near Prague, officers say.
Czech media reported a 32-year-old man and his two-month-old daughter were killed and police believe the 24-year-old gunman, who has no criminal history, chose his victims at random.
Petr Nedoma, director of the Rudolfinum Gallery at a concert hall across Palach Square, told Czech TV he saw the shooter.
“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,” he said.
Ambulances arrived quickly at the scene of the mass shooting after at least 15 people were killed
(Anadolu via Getty Images)
What have police said?
Police chiefs said the gunman was a student at the faculty of arts at Charles University in Jan Palach Square, but they did not identify him.
They also said the father of the shooter was found dead earlier on Thursday.
Police gave no details about the victims or a possible motive for the shooting at the building located near the Vltava River.
Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said investigators do not suspect a link to any extremist ideology or groups.
Police said they were still searching the area, including the balcony, for possible explosives.
Authorities have confirmed that the suspected killer was a student at the university but withheld his identity
(EPA)
What other mass shootings has Prague had?
Gun crime is relatively rare in the Czech Republic and this incident is thought to be the worst one in it’s history.
In December 2019, a 42-year-old gunman killed six people at a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava before fleeing and fatally shooting himself, police said.
In 2015, a man fatally shot eight people and then killed himself at a restaurant in Uhersky Brod.
[ad_2]
Source link
