AFPCandles are lit at the university in the center of Prague for the victims
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 23:09
While the police are still investigating the motive of the perpetrator of yesterday’s shooting in Prague, more and more eyewitness accounts are coming out. Fourteen people were killed and at least twenty people were injured in the shooting.
The gunman entered a university building and opened indiscriminate fire on students and teachers. Before that he had also murdered his father, about 20 kilometers from Prague.
Student Jakob Weizman heard screams and gunshots on the floor below him and locked himself in with a teacher by barricading the door with tables and chairs. He told The Guardian that the gunman fumbled with the door five minutes later. “He went to every classroom to see if he could shoot people.”
Images show him standing on a balcony with a firearm while a journalist tries to distract him:
Hey motherfucker! Here I am, shoot over here!
Journalist Jiri Forman told Reuters he has experience reporting in war zones. He shouted, among other things, “Hey, you fucker. Here I am. Shoot here,” so that students in danger could possibly flee.
In Czech media he is praised for his action, but he himself downplays it. “It was safe where I was standing. No one was there and I could take cover behind something.”
Two university lecturers also talk about the shooting BBC. They heard gunshots and were taken from their classroom by the police. “When we walked out of the faculty, we saw blood everywhere.”
Shotgun
The perpetrator himself also died. “He only had a shotgun left with little range. When we got closer to the balcony, he decided to kill himself,” said the director of the Prague police.
What motivated the perpetrator is still unknown. He may have been inspired by a recent shooting in Russia, but the Telegram channel from which this appears may not belong to the perpetrator. He is said to have had mental problems before. He had a permit for the weapons he owned.
Previous murder
Furthermore, more has become known about another murder for which the perpetrator is probably responsible. A week before yesterday’s shooting, a father and his 2-month-old daughter were murdered in a village near Prague. A gun found in the gunman’s home yesterday turned out to be the murder weapon.
The victims at the university have all now been identified, but police have not released their names. It is clear that among the injured are three foreigners: a Dutchman and two residents of the United Arab Emirates. Tomorrow is a day of national mourning in the Czech Republic.
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2023-12-22 22:09:53
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