2023 Prague shooting

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2023 Prague shooting
2023 Prague shooting is located in Prague city centre
2023 Prague shooting
2023 Prague shooting (Prague city centre)
Locationnear Faculty of Arts, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
Coordinates50°05′21″N 14°24′58″E / 50.08917°N 14.41611°E / 50.08917; 14.41611Coordinates: 50°05′21″N 14°24′58″E / 50.08917°N 14.41611°E / 50.08917; 14.41611
Date21 December 2023
c. 14:59 – c. 15:20 (CET, UTC+1)
Attack type
School shooting, mass shooting, spree shooting, mass murder, patricide
Deaths16[a]
Injured25
PerpetratorDavid Kozák

On 21 December 2023, 16 people, including the shooter,[1][2][3] were killed in a mass shooting at the Faculty of Arts, Charles University on Jan Palach Square in central Prague, Czech Republic.[4][5][6][7] Twenty-five more were injured, nine of them critically.

Police arrived and closed off a large area surrounding the scene of the shooting.[6][8] As they did, the gunman killed himself and the university building was evacuated.[6][9] Police found his father dead earlier in the day.[2]

The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in the Czech Republic's history since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993.[10][11]

Events

Kladno murder

According to an Interpol officer, the suspect killed his father in their family home in Hostouň, Kladno District, the same day.[1][12]

Charles University shooting

The Faculty of Arts building at Charles University

At 14:00, police evacuated a building at Charles University where the suspect was scheduled to attend a lecture.[13] At 14:59, police received first reports of the shooting at a different building, with reports of shots coming from the roof of the faculty of arts building of the university.[1] According to Pavel Nedoma, director of the nearby Rudolfinum Gallery, a man was seen on a balcony firing toward the Mánes Bridge, over the Vltava River. At 15:20, the police found the shooter dead.[12] Police later searched Jan Palach Square and a balcony for explosives.[14]

A video by news reporter Jiří Forman showed the suspect at the school with a rifle. Forman shouted at the suspect, "I'm here, shoot here!", in an attempt to draw his fire away from students evacuating the building. Forman gave his account of the interaction to a reporter from TV Nova, a Czech television station.[15] He identified the gun the suspect used as a ZEV AR-30.[15]

Victims

The shooter killed 16 people, including himself, and injured 25.[16]

Perpetrator

A police officer with Interpol Prague said that the perpetrator was 24-year-old David Kozák, a world history student from the city of Kladno, 24 kilometers from Prague.[3][17] It is thought that the shooter was inspired by other mass shootings abroad.[1]

According to an Interpol officer, the suspect killed his father in their family home in Hostouň, Kladno District, the same day.[1][12]

According to police, the suspect was possibly responsible for the murders of two people in the Klánovice forest a week before.[18]

Kozák graduated with a bachelor's degree in History - European Studies from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University.[19] On June 20, 2022, he defended his bachelor's thesis The Antagonism problematics of Galician Peasant Revolt and Kraków Uprising in the year of 1846.[20] In the thesis, he investigated the causes of the defeat of the Kraków uprising for the independence of the Polish state, primarily the failure of the efforts of the Polish insurgents to gain the support of the Galician peasants for their cause. The Polish Institute in Prague awarded this thesis the Marian Szyjkovský Prize in the category of the best bachelor's thesis, they presented the award at the Polish Embassy in Prague on April 28, 2023.[21]


Reactions

Domestic

Czech interior minister Vít Rakušan said that there were no other shooters, but urged everyone to cooperate with police, while adding investigators did not suspect an ideological or extremist link.[22] Prime Minister Petr Fiala canceled his scheduled events in Olomouc and headed to Prague shortly after the shooting.[1][23] Czech president Petr Pavel expressed his "sincere condolences" to the family and friends of the victims via social media, while also cutting short a trip to France.[24][25]

International

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Includes fourteen at the university, the perpetrator, and the perpetrator's father at their family home.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Higgins, Andrew; Gross, Jenny (21 December 2023). "15 Dead in Czech Republic After Shooting at Prague University". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  2. ^ a b Dalton, Jane (21 December 2023). "Prague shooting: Gunman kills at least 15 people at Charles university". The Independent. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  3. ^ a b Soukup, Jaroslav (21 December 2023). "Masovým vrahem je 24letý student univerzity". Novinky.cz (in Czech). Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  4. ^ "Prague shooting: Several dead and dozens injured in university shooting". BBC. 21 December 2023. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  5. ^ Laca, Peter (21 December 2023). "Several Dead, Wounded in Prague University Shooting, Police Say". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  6. ^ a b c Nohl, Radek; Svihel, Petr. "Po střelbě na Filozofické fakultě je deset mrtvých, další jsou vážně zranění". Seznamzpravy (in Czech). Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  7. ^ https://www.idnes.cz/praha/zpravy/strelba-skola-praha-namesti-jana-palacha.A231221_152226_praha-zpravy_pp
  8. ^ Kottasová, Ivana; Gretener, Jessie; Mastrini, John (21 December 2023). "Gunman kills 14 people and wounds 25 others at Prague university". CNN. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  9. ^ "Czech police say people have been killed in a shooting in downtown Prague". Houston Chronicle. 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  10. ^ "What we know about the mass shooting in Prague". BBC News. 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  11. ^ a b De Vynck, Gerrit; Brady, Kate (21 December 2023). "At least 15 dead in shootings at university in Prague". The Washington Post. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  12. ^ a b c Bayer, Lili (21 December 2023). "At least 15 dead and dozens injured in Prague university shooting, Czech police say – as it happened". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  13. ^ Lopatka, Jan (21 December 2023). "Gunman kills at least 15 people at his Prague university". Reuters. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Police: At least 15 people are dead afte mass shooting in Prague". ny1.com. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Televizní noviny 21. 12. 2023". TV Nova (in Czech). 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  16. ^ Kottasova, Ivana (21 December 2023). "Police revise number of people killed in Prague shooting to 14". CNN. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  17. ^ "Prague shooting: Gunman at Prague university who killed 15 was student - police". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  18. ^ "Prague shooter connected with two murders last week". BBC News. 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  19. ^ Elsnic, Miroslav (21 December 2023). "Co se ví o útočníkovi na fakultě v Praze? Zřejmě to byl student, měl více zbraní". Deník (in Czech).
  20. ^ Problematika antagonismu haličského rolnického a krakovského povstání v roce 1846, Charles University digital repository
  21. ^ Naši studenti obdrželi cenu Mariana Szyjkowského v kategorii nejlepší bakalářské práce, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, Facebook, 2023-05-04, originally: Studenti z FF UK obdrželi cenu Mariana Szyjkowského v kategorii nejlepší bakalářské práce, Filozofická fakulta Univerzity Karlovy, 2023-05-03
  22. ^ "At least 15 people are dead after a mass shooting at a Prague university, police chief says". AP News. 21 December 2023. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  23. ^ "10 people are killed in a mass shooting in downtown Prague". NPR. 21 December 2023. Archived from the original on 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  24. ^ Pavel, Petr. "X (Twitter)".
  25. ^ "President Pavel cuts France trip short over mass shooting in Prague". Radio Prague International. 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  26. ^ Barber, Harriet; Styllis, George; Crisp, James (21 December 2023). "Prague shooting: Prague university shooter killed father before gunning down 15". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  27. ^ Trudeau, Justin [@JustinTrudeau] (21 December 2023). "I'm deeply shocked by the tragic news coming out of Prague. Our thoughts are with the families of the innocent victims lost to this act of violence, and we're hoping for a swift recovery for those injured. To our Czech friends: Canada mourns with you" (Tweet). Retrieved 21 December 2023 – via Twitter.
  28. ^ "14 dead, 24 injured in Czech capital university shooting". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 21 December 2023. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
  29. ^ "Pres. Herzog sends condolences for mass-shooting in Prague". Israel National News. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
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