David Kozak Charles University Prague student shooter, 24, shoots dead at least 15 fellow students during Thursday afternoon gun rampage. Gunman was seen picking off at his victims from lofted position at Arts Faculty as terrified students hid on ledge, while others fled. Diary entry in Russian: ‘I want to do a school shooting then suicide.’
At least 15 people were killed and more than 25 injured, eleven seriously, during a mass shooting on Thursday at the University of Prague at the hands of a student at the school.
David Kozak, 24, according to the statement by Czech police was identified as the gunman and reportedly acted alone. Initial reports told of the gunman’s father been found dead earlier in the day in the village of Hostoun, some 13 miles away from the Czech capital- according to a press conference.
A statement from the mayor of Prague, told of the attacker taking his own life after the shooting after ‘randomly’ firing at students from a perched position Charles University Arts faculty building.
Prague mass shooter killed father & newborn in dry run week before
Prague University gunman diary: I always wanted to do a school shooting
15 killed, 11 seriously injured
Video captured terrified students and tourists fleeing rom the Charles University Faculty of Arts building as gunshots rang out at around 3pm today in what is one of Europe’s top tourist hotspots.
A chilling image shared on local media purports to show Kozak dressed in black aiming a rifle at people below while standing on top of a faculty building, with witnesses saying the gunman was picking off his victims one by one.
Dramatic video showed terrified crowds of tourists and locals sprinting across the famous Charles Bridge – one of Europe’s top tourist sites – after they heard the sound of gunshots in the city.
In separate footage, people were seen running with their hands raised in the air from the prestigious University’s Faculty of Arts building in the capital, as armed police officers swooped in.
BREAKING: More than 15 people have been killed in a shooting in Prague.
The shooter was believed to be a student at Charles University where the shooting took place, and his father was found dead earlier in the day – according to reports.https://t.co/7ZIsgCTPb7
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 21, 2023
Gunman was captured pointing rifle with a scope mounted on top at people down below
The shooting started at 3pm and police said the gunman was ‘eliminated’ at 4pm after elite cops were seen storming the building. At least 15 people were killed in the shooting and more than 20 were injured – 11 seriously, Prague’s emergency services said. It was later confirmed that Kozak took his own life.
While police had yet to say what led up to the mass shooting at the University in Prague, Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said investigators didn’t suspect a link to any extemist ideology or groups, AP reported.
Kozak is believed to have kept a diary in Russian on messaging app Telegram, writing: ‘I want to do a school shooting and possibly suicide.’
Gas bombs, ammunition and pyrotechnics were allegedly found in the basement of Kozak’s house. Reports allege he had psychological problems.
Kodak was a student at the Institute of World History of Charles University based at the Faculty of Arts in Palach Square.
Earlier this year, a man of the same name received an award from the Polish Institute in Prague for his graduate thesis on the revolutionary events of 1846 in Krakow and other areas that are now part of Poland, the BBC reports.
Pandemonium
Police say he was supposed to attend a lecture this afternoon in a separate university building on Celetna Street, a few minutes’ walk from the Faculty of Arts and just off Prague’s Old Town Square.
Images showed terrified students cowering on a ledge high up on a balcony in a bid to hide from the gunman after others were told to barricade themselves in classrooms.
A faculty member of the university, Zora Hesova, told media that people were locked in classrooms inside the building as armed police officers descended on the scene.
Kozak who was dressed in black, was captured standing on the roof of the faculty building and pointing his rifle with a scope mounted on top at people down below.
Petr Nedoma, the director of the Rudolfinum – a concert hall on the square across from the Faculty of Arts – told Czech broadcaster CT24: ‘Upstairs on the walkway of the Faculty of Arts, I saw a man standing with a gun in his hand and shooting towards the Mánes bridge with certain delays.
BREAKING: Footage show students hiding on a ledge during an ongoing mass shooting in University in Prague pic.twitter.com/8j5bkHInwd
— Lore of the Land (@LoreOfTh3Land) December 21, 2023
Charles University previous political shooting
‘I watched what was happening from inside the Rudolfinum for a long time. I stayed in the building and was by the windows for as much cover as possible. Then he put his hands up and threw the gun towards the road, it remained lying by the philosophy faculty. Then a lot of people appeared upstairs, I don’t know if it was the police.
‘I left the window and watched the police evacuate people from the Faculty of Philosophy, taking them away with their hands behind their heads in different directions, a large number of cars, people running around.’
Terrified teachers and students at the Charles University Faculty of Arts were instructed to lock themselves in classrooms before they were evacuated.
Klara, a student, told news site iDnes.cz 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 at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University had said a shooter was in one of its buildings and had told staff to ‘stay put’.
‘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 student, Deda Mrazek, said she was in the university’s library when the gunman began shooting at his victims.
Sharing a picture of students hiding in the back of a computer lab, Deda wrote: ‘I am OK. I was in the library at the time of the shooting.
‘I always wanted to kill!’ Telegram social media account
‘They sent us to the back of the computer lab where there are no windows. Word has now spread that the gunman is dead.’
She said as soon as they heard the gunman had been killed, the terrified students all called their families to say that they were safe.
The government said they will hold an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss the shooting at 9pm.
The square where the shooting occurred is named after Jan Palach, a 20-year-old student who set himself on fire in 1969 to protest the invasion of what was then Czechoslovakia by troops from the Soviet Union and its allies in the Warsaw Pact. He died three days later, becoming a revered martyr to the anti-communist cause.
At the time of his death he was studying history at Charles University, founded in 1348 and one of the world’s oldest universities.
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.
No known motive was immediately known as to what led to David Kozak unleashing on fellow students at Charles University as a horrified Europe and world looked on at an import of terror and violence often common and synonymous at American schools and colleges.
