A student at the Carolina University of Prague killed 14 people this Thursday and injured 25 others in a shooting at the university itself, in the center of the Czech capital. He was shot down by authorities.
The Czech police chief, Martin Vondrášek, admitted at a press conference that the balance of the number of victims could still change, as 10 injured people are in serious condition, and stressed that it was a “premeditated violent attack”. , apparently inspired by other similar attacks that have taken place in schools in other countries around the world.
The Czech Interior Minister has also guaranteed that no connection between the crime and international terrorism has been established.
Authorities have not publicly released the name of the shooter. According to the BBC, this is David K, a 24-year-old young man who lived in the village of Hostoun, about 20 kilometers from Prague. Before leaving home to begin the massacre at the university, he killed his father, police said. The parent’s body was found in the early afternoon.
The student attended the University of Fine Arts, according to information collected by international agencies, and was scheduled to participate this Thursday in a press conference at the university, at 2:00 pm local time. He was the legal owner of several weapons.
The alert for the shooting was given shortly after 3:00 pm local time – one hour less in Lisbon. Authorities announced that they were responding to a shooting in Jan Palach Square, in central Prague, and reported about an hour later that the shooter had been “eliminated” and the university building evacuated. Around 200 people were evacuated from the scene.
The police established a security perimeter in the area around the university: in that square in the center of Prague are the Philosophy and Fine Arts faculties of the Carolina University of Prague.
Local press reports that an explosion was heard before the shooter opened fire from the roof of the university building. In the early evening of Thursday, the mayor of Prague revealed that the police continued to patrol the area, even though it is believed that there is no danger to residents. “As far as I know, they eliminated the shooter in the building and he then jumped somewhere and died,” Bohuslav Svoboda told reporters.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala canceled a trip to the east of the country and returned to the capital due to “tragic events at college”, he revealed on Twitter.
Early Thursday evening, he thanked the condolences and support for the Czech people that were expressed after “the shooting at the Faculty of Fine Arts”.