World

Gunman kills at least 15 people in Prague university shooting

2023.12.21 12:45



By Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet

PRAGUE (Reuters) -A gunman killed at least 15 people and wounded at least 24 others at a Prague university on Thursday before he was “eliminated”, according to police and Prague emergency services, marking the country’s worst-ever mass shooting.

Czech police responded to the shooting at Charles University’s faculty of arts building in Jan Palach Square shortly after 3 p.m. (1400 GMT). Police said the father of the shooter – a student at the faculty – was found dead earlier on Thursday.

“We always thought that this was a thing that did not concern us. Now it turns out that, unfortunately, our world is also changing and the problem of the individual shooter is emerging here as well,” Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda told Czech Television.

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. Repeatedly, with some interruptions, then I saw as he shot, put hands up and threw the weapon down on the street, it lay there on the pedestrian crossing,” he said.

Police sealed off the square and the area adjacent to the building, located in a busy part of town with a popular street leading tourists to Old Town Square.

Czech TV live broadcast showed several ambulances and police cars with flashing lights lined up alongside the building accompanied by the sound of sirens.

One witness told news website iDnes.cz that they got off at the tram stop by the school and “suddenly I heard shooting”.

Klara, a student, told the news website she was among those who police evacuated from the building.

“It was terribly scary, there were a lot of policemen everywhere, who were shouting at us with submachine guns, telling us to run outside,” she said.

An email sent to staff and students had said the shooter was in one of the buildings.

“Don’t go anywhere, if you’re in the offices, lock them and place furniture in front of the door, turn off the lights,” the email said.

One X user posted a photo of a group of students, hiding crouched on a ledge of the building.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala cancelled his trip to the east of the country and was en route to Prague, he said on X.

Gun crime is relatively rare in the Czech Republic. 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.

Source link

Related Articles

Back to top button
bitcoin
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 98,534.40 0.36%
ethereum
Ethereum (ETH) $ 3,435.44 2.85%
tether
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00 0.15%
solana
Solana (SOL) $ 259.10 1.45%
bnb
BNB (BNB) $ 660.51 2.75%
xrp
XRP (XRP) $ 1.49 4.56%
dogecoin
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.445961 5.08%
usd-coin
USDC (USDC) $ 1.00 0.06%
cardano
Cardano (ADA) $ 1.09 0.26%
staked-ether
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 3,435.23 2.87%
tron
TRON (TRX) $ 0.215618 4.31%
stellar
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.606477 39.16%
avalanche-2
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 42.64 1.98%
the-open-network
Toncoin (TON) $ 6.40 15.72%
shiba-inu
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000027 0.33%
wrapped-steth
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 4,065.38 2.84%
wrapped-bitcoin
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 98,017.26 0.80%
polkadot
Polkadot (DOT) $ 9.32 32.43%
chainlink
Chainlink (LINK) $ 17.94 7.94%
bitcoin-cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 521.85 4.01%
sui
Sui (SUI) $ 3.53 1.05%
weth
WETH (WETH) $ 3,434.32 2.86%
pepe
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000021 4.08%
leo-token
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.67 1.72%
near
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 6.40 4.65%
litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) $ 102.61 1.83%
aptos
Aptos (APT) $ 13.23 5.70%
uniswap
Uniswap (UNI) $ 10.92 7.80%
wrapped-eeth
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 3,620.12 2.97%
hedera-hashgraph
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.156907 3.60%
internet-computer
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 11.88 7.66%
crypto-com-chain
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.201123 5.89%
usds
USDS (USDS) $ 1.00 0.07%
polygon-ecosystem-token
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.591547 13.51%
ethereum-classic
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 30.17 3.23%
render-token
Render (RENDER) $ 7.98 5.11%
bittensor
Bittensor (TAO) $ 535.05 3.11%
kaspa
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.155954 0.63%
fetch-ai
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 1.47 12.95%
ethena-usde
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00 0.10%
bonk
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000049 2.57%
cosmos
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 9.30 19.96%
arbitrum
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.88325 9.34%
vechain
VeChain (VET) $ 0.044433 14.15%
whitebit
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 24.80 0.47%
filecoin
Filecoin (FIL) $ 5.90 20.33%
dai
Dai (DAI) $ 1.00 0.14%
dogwifcoin
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 3.36 6.16%
mantra-dao
MANTRA (OM) $ 3.73 4.08%
celestia
Celestia (TIA) $ 7.47 26.66%