A gunman killed not less than 15 individuals and wounded not less than 24 others at a Prague college on Thursday earlier than he was killed, in response to police and Prague emergency companies, marking the nation’s worst-ever mass capturing.
Czech police responded to the capturing at Charles College’s school of arts constructing in Jan Palach Sq. shortly after 3 p.m. native time. Police mentioned the daddy of the shooter was discovered lifeless earlier on Thursday. The shooter was a pupil within the school of arts.
“We all the time thought that this was a factor that didn’t concern us. Now it seems that, sadly, our world can be altering and the issue of the person shooter is rising right here as properly,” Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda advised Czech Tv.
Police sealed off the sq. and the world adjoining to the constructing, positioned in a busy a part of city with a well-liked road main vacationers to Previous City Sq..
![The back of an ambulance is shown on what appears to be a bridge, headed towards an older looking building.](https://i.cbc.ca/1.7066598.1703180794!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/original_780/czech-shooting.jpg)
Czech TV dwell broadcast confirmed a number of ambulances and police vehicles with flashing lights lined up alongside the constructing accompanied by the sound of sirens.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala expressed his condolences on social media to these affected by what he characterised as an “inexcusable assault.” He cancelled a deliberate journey to the east of the nation and was en path to Prague as a substitute, he mentioned.
College students, witnesses describe chaotic scene
Petr Nedoma, director of the Rudolfinum Gallery at a live performance corridor throughout Palach Sq., advised Czech TV he noticed the shooter.
“I noticed a teen on the gallery who had some weapon in his hand, like an automated weapon, and capturing towards the Manes Bridge,” he mentioned.
One witness advised information web site iDnes.cz that they bought off on the tram cease by the varsity and “immediately I heard capturing.”
Klara, a pupil, advised the information web site she was amongst those that police evacuated from the constructing.
“It was terribly scary, there have been quite a lot of policemen in every single place, who have been shouting at us with submachine weapons, telling us to run exterior,” she mentioned.
Gun crime is comparatively uncommon within the Czech Republic. In December 2019, a 42-year-old gunman killed six individuals at a hospital ready room within the jap Czech metropolis of Ostrava earlier than fleeing and fatally capturing himself, police mentioned.
In 2015, a person fatally shot eight individuals after which killed himself at a restaurant in Uhersky Brod.