Shooting at Prague university leaves at least 15 dead, dozens wounded, officials say

Prague — Czech officials said Thursday that a gunman killed at least 15 people at a university building in central Prague before being “eliminated.” 

“More than 15 people have lost their lives and at least 24 have been wounded,” police chief Martin Vondrasek told reporters following the shooting, which happened in the city’s historic centre.

Czech media said earlier that the shooting had occurred at Charles University’s Faculty of Arts, whose teachers and students were instructed to take shelter as police action was under way.

Police confirmed in a social media post that the gunman had been “eliminated.” 

Vondrasek said police started a search for the gunman before the actual shooting, as his father had been found dead in the village of Hostoun, west of Prague. Police suggested earlier the gunman had killed his father. 

The gunman “left for Prague saying he wanted to kill himself,” Vondrasek said. 

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.

Prague’s emergency service said on X that “a large number of ambulance units” were deployed to the facility, adding the injuries ranged from light to very serious.

The private Nova TV reported a blast and a gunman on the roof of the building in Prague’s historic center.

Interior Minister Vit Rakusan told public Czech TV “no other gunman has been confirmed” and called on people to follow police instructions. Police closed the area and asked people living nearby to stay at home.