On the afternoon of December 21, local time, a mass shooting occurred at Charles University in the center of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, where 24-year-old student David Kozak armed with a rifle and a large number of bullets and fired at the students indiscriminately, killing at least 14 people and injuring 25 others. The gunman eventually committed suicide.
Schematic map of the location where the shooting took place. The gunman killed his own father in the town of Hostonn before carrying out the school shooting.
It was reportedly the worst mass shooting in Czech history, with David Kozak killing his own father in the town of Horston before committing the school shooting.
Kozak shot at random students on campus from the balcony of the art department building.
Kozak entered Charles University at about 3 p.m. that day with a rifle equipped with a scope and a large number of bullets, and fired at random students on campus from the balcony of the art department building.
At least 14 people were killed and 25 wounded, 11 of them seriously, according to emergency services in Prague.
The gunners carried rifles equipped with scopes.
A police spokesman said at an evening news conference that at 4 p.m., armed SWAT officers entered the art department building and engaged in a shootout with the gunman, who eventually committed suicide.
Czech President Petr Pavel said on social media X that he was "shocked" by the incident at Charles University.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on X that he had canceled his trip to the east of the country and was on his way to Prague.
Schematic diagram of the timeline of the shooting.
It is reported that gun crimes are relatively rare in the Czech Republic. In December 2019, a 42-year-old gunman killed six people in a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava before fleeing and shooting himself, police said.
In 2015, a man shot and killed eight people in a restaurant in Uhelski Broad before committing suicide.
Text/Nandu reporter Chen Lin