World

Footage shows people cowering on ledge of building as police hunt Prague gunman

Footage has emerged showing people hiding on the ledge of a university building amid a mass shooting in central Prague.

At least 15 people have been killed, according to Czech emergency services, while 24 others have been wounded, according to rescue services.

Police previously said the gunman – a 24-year-old student at the Faculty of Arts at Charles University in Prague – had been “eliminated”.

His body was found in the university’s philosophy building, according to officials.

Police said the gunman’s father was also found dead earlier today.

Officers are still sweeping the area, including the building’s balconies, for possible explosives.

Police officers in a van secure the area in downtown Prague, Czech Republic, Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023. Czech police say a shooting in downtown Prague has killed an unspecified number of people and wounded others. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Image:
Police vehicles at the scene. Pic: AP Photo/Petr David Josek

The mass shooting is the deadliest in the Czech Republic in recent times – the last being in 2019, when seven people were killed by a gunman, who later took his own life, in the Ostrava hospital attack.

Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda told Czech television: “We always thought that this was a thing that did not
concern us.

“Now it turns out that, unfortunately, our world is also changing and the problem of the individual shooter is emerging here as well.”

A police officer secures the area following the shooting at one of the buildings of Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic, December 21, 2023. REUTERS/David W Cerny
Image:
A police officer secures the area following the shooting

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The incident took place in the area of Jan Palach Square, in the city’s Old Town district.

The area is home to The Philosophical Faculty of Charles University and the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design.

Klara, a student at the university, told local media that she was among those who police evacuated from the building.

“It was terribly scary,” she told iDnes.cz.

“There were a lot of policemen everywhere, who were shouting at us with submachine guns, telling us to run outside.”

Prague mayor Bohuslav Svoboda said both The Philosophical Faculty of Charles University and the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design, had been evacuated during the shooting.

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