Europe Prague shooting involved a man who killed so many people in the Czech Republic’s worst mass killing has been identified as David Kozak a 24-year-old man. Over 20 people were hurt when David Kozak opened fire at Charles University in Prague on Thursday afternoon. He killed at least 14 people. The shooter, a college student studying history, began the attack on the fourth floor of the building with legally owned guns. A lot of people ran away for their lives as fear spread through the country’s capital.
Kozak, who has never been in trouble with the law, is thought to have killed his father before the Prague shooting. Martin Vondrasek, the police chief of Prague, told reporters that he thinks he killed a man and his two-month-old daughter on December 15 in the city. His “devastating injuries” meant he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Someone said they saw the killer shooting at a bridge from a window. The Jan Palach Square area is close to the old town and is very popular with tourists during the Christmas season. The head of the police force said the attack might have been influenced by the terrorist attack in Bryansk, Russia this past year.
Police didn’t say anything about the victims in the Prague shooting or why the shooting might have happened in the building near the Vltava River in Jan Palach Square. Vit Rakusan, the interior minister of the Czech Republic, said that authorities don’t think there is a link to any extremist ideas or groups.
The police chief said the shooter was a good student with no criminal record. It was legal for the shooter to have several guns; police said he was heavily armed and carrying a lot of ammo. Vondrasek said what he did was “well thought out and horrible.” The university said that security would be tightened in all university buildings right away.
There were horrible injuries to the shooter in the Prague shooting, but Vondrasek said it wasn’t clear if he killed himself or was shot and killed by police. The shooting happened in a building in Jan Palach Square, which is a popular tourist spot in Prague’s Old Town. It only takes a few minutes to walk to the beautiful Old Town Square, which is a big draw for tourists and where thousands of people come to see the famous Christmas market.
Right away, the government tried to calm people’s fears that the killing was planned by people from other countries. The manager of the nearby Rudolfinum Gallery, Pavel Nedoma, said that he saw someone firing a gun from a window inside the building. Everyone was forced to leave the building, and cops said they were still looking for explosives in the area, including on the balcony.
It faces a bridge over the river and has a view of Prague Castle, which is where the Czech president lives. The building is part of the square. Germany, France, Slovakia, the European Union, and Israel all sent their respects to the families of the victims. President Petr Pavel said he was “shocked” by what happened.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that the Czech government made Saturday a national day of grief to remember the people who were shot. Before, the worst mass shooting in Uhersky Brod, southeastern Poland, in 2015, when a shooter opened fire and killed eight people before killing himself.