Fourteen killed and 25 injured in shooting spree at Prague’s Faculty of Arts

Fourteen people were killed and 25 injured, ten of them seriously, in a shooting at Charles University's Faculty of Arts in Prague on Thursday afternoon.

The incident happened at around three o’clock at the faculty’s main building on Jan Palach Square in the city centre. The gunman, who began shooting on the fourth floor of the building, later committed suicide.

The identity of the shooter has not yet been confirmed, but the suspect is a 24-year-old student of the faculty from the village of Hostouň in central Bohemia, whose father was found dead earlier on Thursday.  According to the police, he was inspired by a similar case abroad.

Interior Minister Vít Rakušan said that a large number of weapons had been found at the faculty and the number of victims could have been much higher without a quick police response.

The wounded were transported to several Prague hospitals, which activated a special emergency plan to be able to deal with the large number of patients.

The incident was the worst fatal shooting in the country’s modern history.