Gunman kills over 15 people at Prague university

PRAGUE: A 24-year-old student killed more than 15 people and wounded dozens more at a Prague university on Thursday in the Czech Republic’s worst shooting in decades, before authorities said the attacker was “eliminated”.

The shooting erupted at the Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, which sits near major tourist sites like the 14th-century Charles Bridge.

“More than 15 people have lost their lives and at least 24 have been wounded,” police chief Martin Vondrasek told reporters following the shooting.

Vondrasek said police started a search for the man before the mass shooting as his father had been found dead in the village of Hostoun west of Prague.

The gunman “left for Prague saying he wanted to kill himself,” Vondrasek said. Police suggested earlier the gunman had killed his father.

Police searched the main Faculty of Arts building where the gunman was expected to show up for a lecture, but he went to the faculty’s other building nearby and they did not find him.

“At 1359 GMT, we received the first information about shooting,” Vondrasek told reporters, adding the rapid response unit was on the scene within 12 minutes.

“At 1420 GMT, the officers in action told us about the gunman’s motionless body,” Vondrasek said, adding unconfirmed information showed he had killed himself.