Cover News Reporter Chen Ganlu
According to a number of media reports, on the 21st local time, a shooting incident occurred at Charles University in Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, which has killed at least 19 people and injured 21 people as of press time, which is the worst shooting incident in the history of the Czech Republic. The suspect, a 24-year-old student, had committed suicide. His father was shot dead earlier in the day. The Czech government has declared December 23 a day of mourning for the victims of the Charles University shooting, and bells will be ringing throughout the country to observe a minute of silence in memory of the victims.
The gunman has repeatedly praised other school shootings
The gunner (left) attacks indiscriminately
According to Prague media and police information, the gunman, David Kozak, 24, is a graduate student in the Department of World History at Charles University, who previously earned an undergraduate degree in History and European Studies at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. According to the head of the Czech police, Martin von Dracek, the gunman had a gun license and owned multiple weapons, and he was also a regular customer at a local gun shop in Prague. Kozak has repeatedly liked other school shootings on social media and hid them. After the incident, the police discovered that he had posted a Russian-language post on social media: "I want to do a school shooting and maybe even kill myself." ”
At the time of the incident, some tourists photographed students taking refuge
One of the students who was hiding under the eaves fell down
Students who were hiding in the classroom after the incident blocked the classroom door
Czech media have reconstructed the incident based on police inquiries and social media information. At around 12:45 p.m. that day, Kozak shot and killed his father in the town of Hostovin, 16 kilometers from Charles University. At around 2:30 p.m., Kozak went to the top floor of the art department of the Faculty of Humanities at Charles University, set up a machine gun on the fire escape and began to shoot indiscriminately. The campus was in chaos, with some students blocking the classroom door with desks, chairs and benches for fear of gunmen coming in, and some students climbed out of the window and stood on the edge of the window, and one student even fell to his death. After receiving the alarm, a large number of special police officers quickly arrived, and at about 3:20 p.m., the police found Kozak's body on the roof of the art department's teaching building.
The police arrived at the campus and waited for an opportunistic
The gunman had a large number of explosives and guns in his home
As for how Kozak died, there is no final conclusion, but police chief von Draczek believes that it was a suicide, "According to the information I have, it should have been a suicide, but the police did use weapons." Von Dracek added: "There is a lot of ammunition [in the school building], and if the police had not entered the building in time, the killer would not have died on the roof, and there would have been an explosion and there would have been more victims." ”
According to police, the gunman may have killed a father and daughter at random in Kranović Les Forest on the outskirts of Prague on the 15th of this month. The father was only 32 years old, and the infant died in a stroller. Hundreds of police officers then searched the entire forest, but by the end of the operation on the 20th, no suspects had been found.
Police searched the home of the gunman Kozak's father, where they found improvised explosive devices and other explosives and firearms. Considering that the gunman's father worked in the airport security services, the police and Interpol together conducted a search of the Václav Havel airport in Prague. At the moment, the police did not disclose where the large number of guns and improvised explosives came from.
Citizens mourn the victims
The worst shooting in the country's history has had a devastating impact
The school shooting was the worst mass shooting ever recorded in the Czech Republic. Gun crime is relatively rare in the Czech Republic, with the most serious previous shooting being in December 2019, when a 42-year-old gunman shot and killed six people in a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, then fled and shot himself. In 2015, a man shot and killed eight people in a restaurant in Uheski Brod before committing suicide.
The case had a very bad international impact, and Charles University, also known as the University of Prague, was founded in 1348 and is the oldest university in the Czech Republic and even in Central Europe, and it is also the highest university in the Czech Republic, with more than 50,000 students currently enrolled. The school is located in Prague's Old Town, a popular place for tourists, and not far from the main entrance of the school is the Charles Bridge, one of Prague's most famous attractions. At the time of the incident, many tourists sightseeing at the bridge were also frightened.
According to Prague International Radio International, the Czech government decided at an extraordinary cabinet meeting held on the same day that December 23 will be a day of mourning for the victims of the Charles University shooting, and bells will be ringed throughout the country to observe a minute of silence for the victims.
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