Moment armed police storm Prague university after shooting captured in bodycam footage
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The gunman behind the Czech Republic’s worst-ever mass shooting has been identified as 24-year-old David Kozak.
The history student opened fire on the fourth floor of the Charles University in Prague on Thursday afternoon, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 20 with legally owned weapons.
He is believed to have killed his father before carrying out the massacre at his university.
Kozak is also suspected of killing a man and his four-month-old daughter in Prague a week ago, the city’s police chief Martin Vondrasek said.
Authorities on Friday announced that all victims in Thursday’s shooting in Prague have been identified and none of them were foreign citizens.
Political leaders, students, friends of the victims and others came together to light candles during an impromptu vigil for the victims as the city grappled with the mass shooting.
“A few of my friends study at the philosophy faculty at Charles University,” said Kristof Unger, a student who attended the vigil. “They have been really traumatised by the shooting there and I just wanted to make them feel a little bit better.”
Czech Republic holds a national day of mourning for the victims of its worst mass killing
National flags on public buildings were at half-staff and people across the Czech Republic are set to observe a minute of silence as the country holds a day of national mourning on Saturday to honor the victims of the worst mass killing in Czech history.
Bells will toll at churches at noon and a Mass at St. Vitus cathedral in Prague, the biggest in the country, will be celebrated for the victims. President Petr Pavel is scheduled to attend the service that is open to everyone.
Similar religious services will be held in other cities and towns, while Christmas markets in a number of places were closed or reduced their programs amid boosted security measures.
Authorities said that 13 people died at the scene in the Faculty of Arts of Charles University and one died later in a hospital. A total of 25 people were wounded, including three foreign nationals.
Milos Vystrcil, speaker of Parliament's upper house, the Senate, was among many who have been coming together to light candles at an impromptu memorial for the victims created in front of the university headquarters.
"It's been a horrible experience for us all but it still can't be compared with what the victims had to experience at the time of the attack and what their dear ones have to experience now," Vystrcil said. "I think that to help them at this point we express our support and that's what we're all doing now."
People pay respects outside the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University following a mass shooting, during the day of national mourning in central Prague, Czech Republic, on Saturday
Police seek motive for shooting
Police have released no details about a possible motive for the shooting.
The interior minister said Thursday that investigators did not suspect a link to any extremist ideology or groups.
Officials said they believed the gunman acted alone.
He has no criminal record.
Czechs mourn victims of university shooting as police patrol public areas
Czechs mourned the victims of the country's worst mass shooting as police tightened security around schools and other public buildings across the country on Friday after a student gunman killed 14 people at a Prague university building on Thursday.
At the Charles University headquarters, crowds that included Prime Minister Petr Fiala and U.S. Ambassador Bijan Sabet paid tribute to the victims. Some knelt to light candles and lay flowers while others stood crying and hugging each other.
"We are here to show our support as fellow students," said Czech student Daniel Broz.
"I was on the other side of the river and hearing gunshots, pops and not knowing what is going on and then a flurry of police cars passing by was absolutely surreal especially as a Czech who has never witnessed an event similar to this before."
Charles University cancelled all lectures and events on Friday a day after the shooting in the central European country of 10.9 million where over 300,000 people own guns but mass shootings are rare.
The Health Ministry said 27 people were admitted or treated at six Prague hospitals, many with gunshot wounds. Out of those, 12 remained in serious condition and at least one in critical condition.
One of the victims had died in hospital.
A police officer walks across a bridge over the Vltava river in downtown Prague, Czech Republic on Thursday
Everything we know about gunman David Kozák
The identity of the gunman who opened fire at a Prague university on Thursday killing 14 people has been revealed.
Student David Kozák opened fire on the fourth floor of Charles University in Jan Palach Square shortly after 3pm, with chilling images appearing of the shooter dressed in black, taking aim from a balcony with a large gun.
Police raced to the scene and evacuated students and tourists near the building in the city centre, with Kozak’s body found a short while later with “devastating injuries”.
Authorities have confirmed that the 24-year-old was a history student at the university and that he acted alone.
Athena Stavrou and Holly Evans report.
Watch: People cling to Prague university building ledge during shooting
People hid on the ledge of a Prague university building during a mass shooting in which at least 14 people were killed on Thursday, 21 December.
A group wae filmed huddling together below a window on the outside of the Jan Palach Library at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts.
More here.
People cling to Prague university building ledge during mass shooting
People hid on the ledge of a Prague university building during a mass shooting in which at least 14 people were killed on Thursday, 21 December. A group were filmed huddling together below a window on the outside of the Jan Palach Library at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts. Police said a 24-year-old Czech student shot dead his father, then killed 14 people and wounded 25 others at the university in the country’s worst-ever mass shooting. They posted on X/Twitter that the gunman had been “eliminated”.
Mourners lay tributes at Prague university
Mourners placed candles and flowers near Charles University in Prague, a day after a horrific mass shooting.
At least 14 people were killed and more than 20 were injured in the Czech Republic’s worst-ever mass shooting on Thursday.
David Kozak, 24, has been named as the gunman.
More here.
Mourners lay tributes at Prague university after at least 14 killed in mass shooting
Mourners placed candles and flowers near Charles University in Prague on Friday, 22 December), a day after a horrific mass shooting. At least 14 people were killed and more than 20 were injured in the Czech Republic’s worst-ever mass shooting on Thursday. David Kozak, 24, has been named as the gunman. Authorities have confirmed that the shooter was a history student at the university and that he acted alone. The gunman started the shooting on the fourth floor of the building with legally-owned weapons.
Police seek motive behind Prague mass shooting
Czech police on Friday investigated the motive behind a student’s dayslong violent rampage culminating in a shooting at the university he attended in Prague that left 14 dead and dozens wounded.
The gunman behind the nation’s worst-ever mass shooting has been identified as 24-year-old David Kozak.
Investigators believe Kozak also killed his father earlier in the day, and another man and a baby last week.
Petr Matejcek, the director of the police regional headquarters in Prague, said the gunman killed himself on the balcony of the university building as officers closed in.
Reporter distracts gunman to help people escape
“Hey, you f*****, here I am, shoot here!” screamed a Czech reporter trying to distract a gunman who killed 14 people at a university building in Prague on Thursday.
Jiri Forman, a reporter for a small security-focused news outfit who said he had experience in war zones, evaded fire from the gunman who was perched on a balcony on the top floor of Charles University’s Faculty of Art.
While ducking behind a corner in a square below, he kept feeding information to police outside and urged them to fire back, while filming continuously on his phone.
Asked by an officer what was he doing, Forman is heard in the footage shouting: “So that he doesn’t shoot at the people! What do you think I am doing, man? There are people there!”His actions have won him plaudits in Czech media, but Forman played down suggestions he was a hero.
“Where I stood it was absolutely safe, nobody was there and I knew I could duck behind an obstacle,” he told Reuters on Friday.
“And if he shoots in my direction, he won’t have the people fleeing, they will have a chance to reach cover. I screamed at him and he started shooting in my direction.”
National day of mourning
The Czech government has declared Saturday a national day of mourning to honour the shooting victims, prime minister Petr Fiala said.
It comes after the deadliest shooting in the nation’s history took place in a university building in central Prague on Thursday.
Students, politicians and civilians alike gathered outside the university on Friday in mourning.
Among those paying their respects to the dead at the university was the Czech president Petr Pavel. He said: “No one can imagine the fear and mental strain they went through yesterday. From the bottom of my heart, I would like to thank everyone for the sincere condolences and words of support, which come from all around the world.”
Do we know what led to the attack?
The gunman’s motives for the attack or not yet known, but police were reportedly already searching for David Kozak at the time of the incident.
Authorities are probing the potential connection between a series of violent, expletive-laden Russian-language messages posted on Telegram, including a message posted by the shooter saying: “I always wanted to kill. I thought I would be a maniac in the future.”
One of the messages posted by the user indicated that inspiration for the attack may have been drawn from two previous mass shootings in Russia—one occurring this month at a school in Bryansk near the Ukraine border, and the second in 2021 in Kazan, the capital of the Russian region of Tatarstan.
“I was very inspired by Alina … very much,” a message shared on 10 December said, just three days after a 14-year-old Russian girl, Alina Afanaskina, opened fire on her classmates.
It is not thought that Kozak was linked to any extremist ideology or groups.
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2023-12-23 09:31:10Z
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