Information reaching Kossyderrickent has it that Charles University shooter, David Kozak, has psychological problems.
The prime minister, Petr Fiala, said he had cancelled a trip to the east of the country because of “the tragic events at the faculty of philosophy” and was returning to Prague, while the city’s mayor, Bohuslav Svoboda, said he was “completely shocked”.
European leaders sent their condolences. “Shocked by the senseless violence of the shooting that claimed several lives today in Prague,” the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on X. “We stand and mourn with you.”
The Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, said his thoughts were “with the victims and their loved ones”, while Hungary’s prime minister, Viktor Orban, said he was “deeply shocked by the heinous shooting at Charles University”.
Czech students were left clinging to the side of their university building on Thursday as their classmate massacred at least 16 people during Europe’s worst mass shooting since the 2015 terror attacks in Paris.
The gunman, who was studying Polish history in Prague’s Charles University, murdered his father before gunning down his classmates in a rampage that injured another 24 people and only ended when he was “eliminated”.
Images showed the lone gunman, named by local media as David Kozák, taking aim with a black rifle on the campus which is located near the tourist hotspot of the Czech capital’s Old Town.
Police said they suspected 24-year-old Kozák shot himself after exchanging fire with officers on the walkway of the building, possibly after being wounded. An autopsy is yet to be performed but officers said the “devastating injuries” suggested suicide.
Teachers and students were instructed by email to take shelter as the police action was under way. “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.