Czech Republic holds day of mourning for victims of Prague shooting


National flags on public buildings are at half-mast and people across the Czech Republic are set to observe a minute of silence as the country holds a day of national mourning for the victims of the country’s worst mass killing.

The shooting inside a university building at the heart of the Czech capital on Thursday left 14 dead and dozens injured.

Police and prosecutors said they have evidence the 24-year-old gunman had also killed his father earlier in the day and a man and a baby in Prague last week.

Floral tributes and candles outside the headquarters of Charles University (Denes Erdos/AP)

Bells will toll at churches at noon and a Mass at St Vitus cathedral in Prague, the biggest in the country, will be celebrated for the victims.

President Petr Pavel is scheduled to attend the service which is open to everyone.

Similar religious services will be held in other cities and towns, while Christmas markets in a number of places were closed or cut back amid tightened security measures.

Authorities said 13 people died at the scene of the shooting in the Faculty of Arts of Charles University and one died later in hospital. A total of 25 people were wounded, including three foreign nationals.

Czech Shooting
President Petr Pavel at the memorial service in Prague (Petr David Josek/AP)

Milos Vystrcil, speaker of the Senate, was among many lighting candles at an impromptu memorial created in front of the university headquarters.

“It’s been a horrible experience for us all but it still can’t be compared with what the victims had to experience at the time of the attack and what their dear ones have to experience now,” he said.

“I think that to help them at this point we express our support and that’s what we’re all doing now.”

The 14 who died have been identified and their names have been gradually released.

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Mourners bring flowers and candles (Petr David Josek/AP)

The university confirmed two staff members were among the dead, including the head of the Institute of Music Sciences, Lenka Hlavkova. First-year student Lucie Spindlerova was another, said the Lidove Noviny daily, where she also worked.

The gunman, who killed himself as police closed in, was a Czech student at the Faculty of Arts.

Investigators do not suspect a link to any extremist ideology or groups. Officials said they believed he acted alone, but his motive is not yet clear.

The nation’s previous worst mass shooting was in 2015 when a gunman opened fire in the south-eastern town of Uhersky Brod, killing eight before fatally shooting himself.

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