A member of the emergency service works at the scene of a shooting at Charles University in central Prague on Thursday. Photo by Martin Divisek/EPA-EFE
Czech police said at least 15 people were killed and at least 25 more were wounded in a shooting at a university in Prague on Thursday. The suspect killed himself, according to police.
During a Prague press conference, police identified the assailant as David K. Speaking, a 24-year-old world history student at Charles University. Czech Police President Martin Vondrasek said Speaking “got inspired by a similar terrible event abroad” without specifying where that event occurred. Advertisement
The gunman first killed his father at the family home in the town of Kladno, according to Radek Jiroudek, an Interpol Prague police officer in an interview with the New York Times. He then killed himself after shooting the victims at the university.
Czech police said Thursday morning that officers began responding to a shooting at a school in Namesti Jan Palach, adding the shooter had been “eliminated.”
“The entire building is currently being evacuated and there are several dead and dozens of injured,” police said.
The Prague Rescue Service said in addition to the 15 deaths that nine people were “seriously injured,” as many as six were “moderately injured” and 10 more were “slightly injured.” Advertisement
The investigation, including identifying all the victims, is still underway. Interior Minister Vit Rakusan told Czech public television the person who fired the shots was dead and that there were no other suspects at the scene.
He said, “It’s an unimaginable tragedy, it’s something horrible, it affects young people, it’s just before the Christmas holidays. It is something that the Czech Republic has not experienced.”
The shooting happened at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, near the Czech capital’s Old Town.
Police said some students locked themselves in rooms before the shooter arrived.
Jakob Weizman, who is studying at the university, posted on X that he was barricaded in a classroom.
“Currently stuck inside my classroom in Prague. Shooter is dead, but we are waiting to be evacuated. Praying to make it out alive. Locked the door before the shooter tried to open it.”
If you or someone you know is suicidal, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988.
