GhLinks Media
The gunman who killed at least 15 people as he unleashed terror on Prague today has been named as student David Kozak, 24, with police saying he took his own life after carrying out the horrific attack.
Kozak murdered his father in the nearby town of Hostoun before heading into the Czech capital where he began randomly shooting people from the balcony of Charles University Arts faculty.
In the lead up to his killing spree, he is thought to have kept a diary in Russian on messaging app Telegram, writing: ‘I want to do a school shooting and possibly suicide.’
The massacre is the Czech Republic’s worst ever mass shooting, and the gunman is believed to have been inspired by a school shooting carried out by 14-year-old schoolgirl Alina Afanaskina in Russia earlier this month.
Earlier, a chilling image emerged showing the gunman dressed in black aiming a rifle at people below while standing on top of the Charles University Faculty of Arts building.
Terrified students and tourists were seen fleeing while others crouched beneath a window ledge on the high building as gunshots rang out in what is one of Europe’s top tourist hotspots. Reports have suggested that one person died after falling from a building as they took cover.
There are fears that tourists could be among those killed or the 24 injured in today’s shooting, with police working to identify the victims and saying they will contact embassies with updates in the event of foreign nationals being affected in the atrocity.
Elite cops were seen storming the philosophy department building of Charles University, where the gunman was a student, with police saying the gunman had been ‘eliminated’ at 4pm – an hour after the deadly carnage began.
Police said the gunman’s body had been found in the area and suggested he had taken his own life when cops closed in on him – though cops did say they had fired at him.
‘Due to the devastating injury sustained by the suspect, we are unable to confirm his identity,’ police spokesman Martin Vondráček said. ‘From the information available to me, there should have been a suicide, however, the police also used a service weapon.’
Dramatic video showed terrified crowds of tourists and locals sprinting across the famous Charles Bridge – one of Europe’s top tourist sites – after they heard the sickening sound of gunshots in the city.
The gunman fired at his victims one by one from the top of the university building – two hours after he is said to have murdered his father in the town of Hostoun.
In separate footage, people were seen running with their hands raised in the air from the prestigious University’s Faculty of Arts building in the capital, as armed police officers swooped in.
The shooting started at 3pm and police said the gunman was ‘eliminated’ at 4pm after elite cops were seen storming the building. At least 15 people were killed in the shooting and more than 20 were injured – 11 seriously, Prague’s emergency services said.
Other extraordinary images show terrified students cowering on a ledge high up on a balcony in a bid to hide from the gunman after others were told to barricade themselves in classrooms.
