The Czech Republic woke up in mourning this Friday after the most serious shooting in memory of the country's recent history. On a rainy morning, with temperatures around zero degrees, dozens of people have placed candles in front of the headquarters of Charles University, the center of Prague, in memory of the fatal victims of the young man who broke into the Philosophy faculty on Thursday. and Letters. The attacker, a 24-year-old student identified as Dadid K., killed 14 people and injured 25, hours after killing his father in Hostoun, near the town of Kladno.
In the search of the family home, evidence was found linking the perpetrator of the attack, who died during the police operation, with the death of two more people. They are a 35-year-old man and his daughter, a two-month-old baby, also victims of shooting last week in the Klánovice forest, in the Prague district. Police are conducting ballistic tests to confirm if their suspicions are true. The assailant had licenses for eight weapons, two of them long.
Investigators have already identified all the fatalities. The injured, as reported by health authorities, are stable. Among them are two people from the United Arab Emirates and one from the Netherlands. Some are in serious condition, and one of them is critical. In addition to medical care, dozens of people are receiving psychological help due to the impact of the event.
Stories from witnesses and survivors are beginning to emerge in the local media. Like that of a student, who was part of the group that tried to take refuge on the ledge of the faculty building. According to her, she told Czech Radio and collect Novinky, this young woman was in class when they heard some shots. “We thought it was someone fooling around in the hallway, and then a gunshot went through the door. We hid under the tables as best we could,” she narrated.
According to his story, the attacker immediately returned and began to break down the door. The students fled through the window. “We were on the fourth floor, so we ran across the roof and crawled along the ledge, around a corner. There was a terrace below us,” he continued. They crouched there for a long time until someone said that the assailant had also left through the window.
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Then they jumped to the terrace on the third floor, broke the window, entered the building and ran down the stairs. For the majority, this escape caused bruises and some fractures. “But someone fell from the ledge onto the street,” according to the young woman.
Among the victims of the attack are students and staff of the university. The assailant, after leaving the building on the fourth floor, shot and wounded three people on the street. When he was surrounded by the police, he shot himself, Petr Matejcek, director of the regional police headquarters, reported at a press conference this Friday.
“I was in the building during the attack. What I saw in the hallways, the ammunition reserves, was incredible. “If the attacker had not been cornered, it would have been much worse,” said Matejcek, after the screening of a recording made with the cameras on the uniforms of the police officers who entered the faculty. According to him, between 220 and 230 agents participated in the operation.
official mourning
Prague is experiencing a day of mourning after an afternoon and night in which many people worked hard to locate friends and acquaintances to see if they were okay. In an extraordinary meeting of the Government, together with the president, Petr Pavel, on Thursday night, they declared Saturday to be an official day of mourning. That day a religious funeral will be held at 11:00 in St. Vitus Cathedral.
The police have announced more security measures these days, especially in what they call soft targets, which refers to places with a large influx of people and educational centers. According to local media, more uniformed officers can already be seen on the streets, carrying long weapons. The police recorded a call on Thursday night from a person who said that she was going to follow the attacker's example, and that she has already been identified and detained.
The university, which has felt vulnerable after the attack, requested enhanced security on Thursday. The Minister of the Interior has announced that preventive measures will be taken at least until January 1. But it's not just Prague's educational centers that have woken up traumatized. Universities across the country are announcing initiatives to strengthen security, such as that of Palacký in Olomouc, where police will monitor more than 70 university buildings.
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