In what is believed to be the worst mass shooting in the nation’s history, a 24-year-old Czech student shot and killed his father on Thursday at his university in Prague. He also killed 14 people and wounded 25 others and may have taken his own life, according to police.
The government decided at a special cabinet meeting with President Petr Pavel to declare December 23 to be a day of mourning throughout the country in central Europe in honour of the victims.
“I would express my great sadness along with helpless anger at the unnecessary loss of so many young lives. I would like to express my sincere condolences to all relatives of the victims, to all who were at this tragic incident, the most tragic in the history of the Czech Republic,” Pavel said.
Police were informed earlier in the day that the suspect was probably travelling to Prague from his town in the Kladno region outside of the capital with plans to commit suicide. They found a sizable arsenal of weapons at the downtown Prague Charles University building where the shooting occurred.
The father of the gunman was discovered dead not long afterward.
Police President Martin Vondrasek stated that shortly after learning of the shooting, officers were called to the larger main building of the Faculty of Arts, where the gunman was scheduled to give a lecture.
Reporters were informed by Vondrasek that police had “unconfirmed information from an account on a social network that he was supposedly inspired by one terrorist attack in Russia in the autumn of this year,” and that the shooter was a lawful owner of multiple firearms.
