Three Foreign Students Among Injured After the Shooting

Police have so far identified 13 of the fourteen victims of Thursday’s shooting.

According to Seznam Zpravy, among the injured, there are three foreign nationals – one citizen of the Netherlands, two citizens of the United Arab Emirates.

After the shooting at Charles University, the police took preventive measures aimed at schools and other so-called soft targets.

“Starting today, we have adopted nationwide PREVENTIVE measures in relation to soft targets and schools. We have no information about any specific threat and it is a prevention – a signal that we are here and we are ready,” informs the police on the X network.

Mezi zraněnými po útoku střelce na Filozofické fakultě UK jsou tři cizinci – jeden občan Nizozemska, dva občané Spojených arabských emirátů.

— Ministerstvo vnitra (@vnitro) December 22, 2023

“At the moment we are still working at the scene of the shooting. We have identified 11 deceased and are working to confirm other identities. We expect the completion of the initial on-site operations in the morning”.

In the meantime, people have been laying flowers and lighting candles outside Carolinum, the seat of Charles University in Prague.

Rector Milena Králíčková said the university has launched a crisis chat service for students and academics to help them come to terms with the tragedy and is doing its utmost to support the families of the victims.

Government declares December 23 day of mourning

The government has declared December 23 a day of mourning for the victims of Thursday’s tragic shooting incident at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague.

Bells will toll around the country at midday on Saturday and a minute of silence will be held in memory of the victims.

Condolences pouring in after Prague shooting

US President Joe Biden wrote on the social network X that his heart goes out to those who lost their lives in the senseless attack in the Czech capital, adding that the US is ready to help if needed.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also said he was shocked and saddened by the news of the shooting at Charles University.

The motive?

No official motivation has been released by authorities. However, it has been reported that Kozak was himself inspired by a school shooting in Russia earlier this month, in which a 14-year-old schoolgirl killed her classmates and then herself.

‘I want to do school shooting and possibly suicide, Alina Afanaskina helped me too much,’ he allegedly wrote in Russian on December 10 of the Bryansk school shooter, who killed two students before taking her own life.

The chilling post in what the writer called their ‘diary’ about ‘life before the shooting’ went on: ‘I always wanted to kill, I thought I would become a maniac in the future.’

Just five days after the disturbing posts appeared online, a father and baby girl were shot dead in Klanovice, a forest area outside of Prague.

More than 250 police were sent to search the area and a helicopter with thermal imaging was used to scour the woodland area, but the gunman was never found.