Man kills four in birthday party shooting

The Czech Republic saw one of the worst incidents of family-related violence in decades when a 41-year-old man shot four people dead in a bar in Petřvald, north Moravia, on Saturday night. He then attempted to shoot himself, and is now in critical condition in a city hospital. The tragedy has shocked the nation and reopened a debate on weapons possession and public safety.

Restaurant in Petřvald - place of the crime, photo: CTK

It was a birthday party that turned into a bloodbath. At around 1 AM on Sunday, a 41-year-old man walked into a restaurant in Petřvald, a town outside Ostrava in northern Moravia, where his ex-girlfriend’s father was celebrating his 50th birthday. The man, reportedly a Macedonian national, shot dead his former girlfriend, her parents and another man, the girl’s current partner. Soňa Štětínská is the spokeswoman for the north Moravian police.

“At the moment, I can say that a family celebration was in progress in the restaurant. Some of the guests had already left while around ten persons were still present. Around 1 AM, the girl’s ex-boyfriend walked in. We are now investigating what happened next but from we know so far, the man opened fire without warning. Four persons died on the spot. The man then turned the weapon on himself.”

The murder is one of the worst cases of gun-related violence the country has seen in recent years. In 2003, a father and son shot dead three men in revenge for a lost court case; a year later, a 25-year-old man killed his parents and younger bother and is now serving a life sentence. Last year, a highly publicized fatal shooting took place at a Prague restaurant in which the victim was the son of a former advisor to Social Democrat leader Jiří Paroubek.

The rise in violence was one of the reasons behind a new legislation on the possession of hand guns which came into force in February of this year. The law introduced stricter criteria for acquiring hand guns: for example, anybody who’s addicted to alcohol or other drugs, or anybody with a criminal record would not pass the new requirements for a gun licence.

Although the weapon in the recent shooting was held illegally, the daily Mladá fronta Dnes brought an opinion poll on Monday which suggests that 65 percent of Czechs would like to see a further tightening of the country’s gun control laws. Almost 20 percent of respondents said that private possession of guns should be outlawed. The Czech Republic has also seen a ten year high in the number of legally owned firearms – more than 300,000 Czechs have gun licences, with nearly 650,000 guns legally owned.

Social Democrat MP Jeroným Tejc who is a member of the security committee of the lower house, says that one of the problems is the fact that Czech police are severely understaffed.

“There have been several amnesties on illegal ownership of weapons with the aim of collecting these weapons from the public. On the other hand, we can hardly prevent people from illegally acquiring weapons, especially in view of the free movement of persons around the EU. It’s therefore up to the police to crack down especially on weapon traders. But given the shortage of some 5,000 officers the police force is severely restricted in its ability to find and confiscate illegally owned weapons.”

The man responsible for Saturday’s shooting is now fighting for his life in an Ostrava hospital. If he survives, and if he’s convicted of the four murders, he will face life imprisonment, the harshest sentence under the Czech law.