Chekhia mourns victims of shootings at Prague University

Flags in public buildings have been lowered to half-point in the Czech Republic on December 23rd, while in this state it is a day of mourning to honour victims of mass shooting at a Prague university, where 14 people were killed and 25 others injured.

The government has asked the Czechs to keep a minute of silence at noon on December 23rd, and bells in churches throughout the state will fall at the same time.

In Prague, citizens have honoured the victims on December 22nd, lighting candles outside Carl University building. The students, the friends of the victims, and the others gathered to honor the victims, while some of them even placed flower wreaths.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, and American Ambassador Bijan Sabet were among the people who honored the victims.

It is difficult to find words to express our sentence on one side, and on the other, the pain and grief that our whole society is feeling these days before Christmas”, Fiala said.

University Rector Milena Kralickova also participated in the wake. The academic community, she said, is <x0ndroned deep” by the shooting.

According to Interior Minister Viti Rakusan, the 14 victims of the December 21st shooting at the Faculty of Art have been identified. Authorities have not published the names of the victims, but the Institute of Music Sciences has confirmed that the institution's leader, Lenka Hlavkova, is among those killed.

There are no foreigners among those killed, but one Dutch citizen and two of the United Arab Emirates have been injured.

Czech Republic police have confirmed that the attacker has killed himself. Petr Macek, director of regional police in Prague, said the attacker killed himself on the balcony of the university building as police approached him. Police have not published the attacker's name, but said he is believed to be a Czech.

Authorities have said the attacker has not had a criminal record, meanwhile, nor have they published any data on the possible motivation of the attack. Investigators have also not found connections with any extremist ideology or group, and believe he acted alone.

After the attack, which is the most serious attack on Czechia national police has reported increasing security around public buildings and schools throughout the country. Meanwhile, lectures at Carl University have been canceled.

National Police Director Martin Wandresek has claimed they believe the attacker killed his father in Hostouns, north of Prague, earlier in the day before he attacked university. Likewise, authorities are investigating whether he was responsible for the murder of a 32-year-old man and his 2-month-old daughter on 15 December in a park in Prague.

The attacker reportedly was a student at Carl University, and Czech media have said police are looking at the posts he made on social networks, allegedly written by the attacker, to see if they were linked to the attack.

The newspaper Hospordarske Noviny, citing a police report, has reported that the attacker in the past was treated for psychological problems, and had 12 weapons with permission, including a semiautomatic rifle, pistol and rifle.

In the police report, the attacker was said to have arrived at the university with a bill full of ammunition. Police said he had licenses for eight weapons, including two long arms.

When asked during a media conference why the attackers were allowed to have large numbers of weapons, Deputy Police Director Thomas Kubik said: “We need to understand whether this was the result of any problems in the system or was a human error”. /rel