In the center of Prague, there was dismay a few days before New Year’s Eve when shots rang out on Thursday, December 21, a few steps from a magical Christmas market. One of the oldest universities in Europe has just been the scene of the worst massacre in Czech history. Fourteen people died and 25 others were injured, 10 of whom are in serious condition. The shooting took place in a city center teeming with tourists, and the impressive police intervention caused a wave of panic among strollers on the famous Charles Bridge, six minutes away.
The shooter, a 24-year-old young man who was not known to the police, opened fire around 3 p.m. in the main building of the Faculty of Letters at Charles University, where he himself was studying. The police announced that the attacker was killed less than an hour later, without it being known at this time whether his death was a suicide or armed police intervention.
The immediate surroundings of the university were quickly cordoned off, and on the social network hope to stay alive.
Daniela Tinkova, a teacher at the university’s Faculty of Arts, told the online media Denik N having also barricaded herself with around thirty students in a small classroom from where she heard gunshots ring out. “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. » Petr Nedoma, who was in a nearby building, shared to the news site Aktualne.cz have seen « 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., the rescuers had finished their work, leaving room for investigators. The neighborhood was still cordoned off at night, where the scientific police were working. The victims had not yet all been identified Thursday evening.
“There is no justification for this terrible act,” Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said during an evening press conference. The head of the executive stressed that “everything suggested that the shooter had acted alone”, 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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