In front of Charles University, following a shooting, in Prague, December 21, 2023. DAVID W CERNY / REUTERS
In the streets of central Prague, crowded with tourists, a wind of panic began to blow when shots rang out on Thursday, December 21, early in the afternoon. Nearby, one of the oldest universities in Europe has just been the scene of the worst massacre in Czech history. Thirteen people died, and twenty-five others were injured, ten of whom are in serious condition, according to a report revised downwards by Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan on Friday at midday. “We know the identities of the fourteen dead. These are thirteen victims of the mad shooter and [ce dernier] »he announced, while a previous report showed fourteen victims. The shooting, which led to the intervention of a large number of heavily armed police, took place a few steps from a popular Christmas market.
The shooter, a young man of 24, unknown until now to the police – and whose identity had not yet been revealed Friday morning – opened fire around 3 p.m. in the main building of the faculty of letters from Charles University, where he himself studied. Less than an hour after the incident, the police announced that the attacker had been killed, without it being yet known whether his death was a suicide or the intervention of the security forces.
The immediate surroundings of the university were quickly cordoned off and, on the social network interior.
Daniela Tinkova, a teacher at the university’s Faculty of Arts, told the online media Denik N having also taken refuge with around thirty students in a small classroom from where she heard gunshots. “On the phone, the police told us to get on the ground and stay quiet. From time to time there was a knock on the door, but we didn’t dare open it. » On the site Aktualne.cz, Petr Nedoma, who was in a nearby building, said he saw « a young man standing in the corridor at the top of the faculty of letters (…) a weapon in his hand. He shot in the direction (…) of Prague Castle.
“No justification for this terrible act”
At 7:30 p.m., rescuers had finished evacuating the victims, all of whom had not yet been identified as of Thursday evening. The area remained cordoned off overnight to allow the scientific police to continue their investigations.
“There is no justification for this terrible act”declared Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala at a press conference in the evening. “Everything suggests that the shooter acted alone”, he emphasized, in denying any terrorist action or “organized group”. “It’s an unimaginable tragedy. (…). The pre-Christmas atmosphere of the Czech Republic was transformed beyond recognition by the act of a mad shooter »deplored for his part the Minister of the Interior, Vit Rakusan.
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2023-12-22 08:36:49
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