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The Czech Republic will observe a national day of mourning on December 23 for the victims of a mass shooting at a university in central Prague that left 14 people dead and 25 others wounded.
In the Prague city center, people began paying their respects to the victims on December 22 by lighting candles outside Charles University buildings.
Fellow students, friends of the victims, and others gathered for an impromptu vigil. Some knelt to light candles and lay flowers, while others cried and hugged each other.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala and U.S. Ambassador Bijan Sabet were among those who paid tribute to the victims.
The university’s rector, Milena Kralickova, was also among the throngs of people at the vigil. The academic community, she said, had been “shaken, deeply shaken” by the shooting.
Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said all 14 victims of the shooting on December 21 at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts building had been identified. The authorities did not release any names, but the Institute of Music Sciences confirmed that its head, Lenka Hlavkova, was among the dead.
There were no foreigners among those killed, but one citizen of the Netherlands and two from the United Arab Emirates were injured.
The national police confirmed that the gunman died by suicide.
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. Police have not released the gunman’s name, but said they believe he was Czech.
Authorities said he had no criminal record, and police have released no details about a possible motive. Investigators said they found no link to any extremist ideology or groups and believed he acted alone.
Following the attack — the country’s worst mass shooting — the national police announced they have increased security around public buildings and schools, which are closed for the Christmas holiday, across the country. Lectures and events at Charles University were canceled.
The national police stressed that the measures were preventative and that no specific threats had been identified.
National police chief Martin Vondrasek said police believe the shooter killed his father in his hometown of Hostoun west of Prague earlier in the day, and police are investigating whether he is the same assailant who killed a 32-year-old man and his 2-month-old daughter on December 15 in a park in Prague.
The shooter was reportedly a student at Charles University, and Czech media said the police were looking into social media posts allegedly written by the shooter to determine if there was a link to the attack.
The Czech newspaper Hospodarske noviny, citing a police report it had viewed, reported that the gunman had been treated in the past for psychological problems and legally owned 12 weapons, including a semiautomatic rifle, a shotgun, and pistols along with silencers.
The police report said that the gunman arrived at the university with a suitcase full of ammunition. Police said he had a license to own eight guns, including two long guns.
When asked at a news conference how it was possible the shooter had such a number of weapons, Tomas Kubik, a deputy police chief said: “We will have to figure out if it’s a result of a flaw in the system or human error.”
Czech President Petr Pavel said he was “shocked” by what happened and offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims, as did leaders of Germany, France, Slovakia, the European Union, and Israel.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that the people of Israel “empathize with the pain of the Czech people”.
The White House said the United States is ready to support the Czech Republic as needed.
“Federal authorities are in touch with Czech authorities as they investigate this incident, and we stand ready to provide additional support as needed,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also reacted with shock and sadness. “I express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery, he said on X.
Following the attack, which took place about 6 kilometers from RFE/RL’s headquarters, acting RFE/RL President Jeffrey Gedmin said that “RFE/RL joins with our community in Prague in expressing solidarity with all affected by today’s shocking events at Charles University.”
The shooting caused panic throughout the heavily touristed center of Prague. Videos showed the shooter positioned on a terrace of Charles University’s Faculty of the Arts building firing onto the large square below. One police vehicle was struck during the shooting, according to the police report viewed by Hospodarske noviny.
Mass shootings are rare in Europe, but there were at least three others this year. A gunman in March in the German city of Hamburg shot dead six people and wounded eight before killing himself.
The other two took place in Serbia in a single week in May. A 13-year-old boy gunned down eight fellow students and a security guard in a Belgrade school. Two days later, a gunman killed eight people and wounded 14 others in a village near the Serbian capital.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Current Time, iDnes, and Reflex
