After the gun attack in Prague, the search for the motive continues. According to authorities, all of the fatalities have now been identified. The perpetrator shot 14 people at Charles University and then himself.
According to authorities, all of the dead have been identified after the gun attack at Charles University in Prague. The number of victims was corrected. 14 people and the perpetrator died in Thursday’s attack, said Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan on public television CT. The police also confirmed the suspicion that the 24-year-old shooter killed himself after the crime.
The identities of all the dead are known, Rakusan said. There are no foreigners among the dead, but there are among the 25 injured.
The perpetrator’s motive is still unclear
Meanwhile, the search continues for the motive of the perpetrator, who was himself a student at the university. Police officers continued to secure traces of the bloody crime at the university. An improvised memorial with hundreds of candles was created in front of the university near Prague’s famous Charles Bridge, where Prime Minister Petr Fiala also laid flowers.
No evidence of terrorism
The student opened fire in the main building of the Faculty of Arts in downtown Prague on Thursday afternoon. All of the fatalities were killed inside the university building. Rakusan said on Thursday that there was no evidence of a connection to international terrorism. The shooter was therefore a lone perpetrator.
According to police chief Martin Vondrasek, officers began searching for the 24-year-old before the gun attack after his father was found dead in the town of Hostoun, west of Prague. According to the police chief, the shooter made his way to the Czech capital and said he wanted to kill himself.
The perpetrator was legally in possession of the weapons
Investigators also believe that the man was also responsible for the murder of a father and his infant daughter a week ago. The two were shot apparently for no reason in a forest on the outskirts of Prague. The case caused horror in the Czech Republic.
Ballistic studies should now provide clarity about a possible connection. Rakusan said the shooter owned his weapons legally and had no criminal record.
Marianne Allweiss, ARD Prague, tagesschau, December 22nd, 2023 10:00 a.m