At least 14 killed in Prague University shooting

A Czech student on Thursday shot and killed his father, then shot and killed at least 13 other people and injured at least 25 more at a Prague university, according to police, marking the country’s deadliest mass shooting.

Police chief Martin Vondrasek and Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan met with reporters late Thursday near the scene, on the campus of Prague’s Charles University on Jan Palach Square. It is adjacent to the Charles Bridge, a popular tourist attraction.

Vondrasek said the shooter was a 24-year-old student at the school. He said police started a search for the man before the shooting began, after his father had been found dead in a village west of Prague. Vondrasek said the gunman died at the scene of the university shooting.

Rakusan said that there was no link between the shooting and “international terrorism.”

The police also said they were investigating the possibility there was a bomb in the philosophy building. The police chief said police came to the university philosophy building, where they knew the suspect was scheduled to be in a lecture, and evacuated the building. The square and streets around it were evacuated as well.

Video posted to social media showed people fleeing the square as emergency vehicles arrived at the scene. Some students were photographed outside, crouching on a ledge of a campus building.

One witness at the scene told Czech television he saw a young man on a balcony brandishing what the witness thought was an automatic weapon and shooting toward the Charles Bridge. Police did not confirm the assailant used an automatic weapon.

Police found the gunman’s body at the scene. His death was likely a suicide, Vondrasek said, but officials are also investigating whether he may have been killed by police who returned fire.

The gunman is also suspected in the killings of another man and his 2-month-old daughter, who were found shot to death in the woods in a village outside Prague last week, Vondrasek added. The Czech government announced a day of mourning across the country for Saturday to commemorate the victims.

From his account on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Czech Republic President Petr Pavel wrote, “I am shocked by the events at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. I would like to express my deep regret and sincere condolences to the families and relatives of the victims that the shooting claimed.”