Copycats who have been ‘inspired’ by a mass shooter and vowed to replicate his mass slaughter in Prague on Thursday are being targeted by Czech police.
David Kozak opened fire at Prague’s Charles University yesterday, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 20 in a calculated attack, officials said.
The bloodshed, which marks the Czech Republic’s worst mass shooting, took place in the school’s philosophy department building, where the gunman was a student.
The gunman also died, authorities said. His name has not been released, but it has been widely reported that he was 24-year-old David Kozak, who had killed his father earlier in the day and is also a key suspect in another double murder.
Now, Czech police are reporting that they found messages online by people expressing their intention to copy the shooter’s deadly actions.
They are working to crack down on the individuals behind the posts.
David Kozak opened fire at Prague’s Charles University yesterday, killing at least 14 people and injuring more than 20, officials said
In a morning update, Czech police said they were monitoring online activities, and explained it was for this reason they had not released more details on the shooter.
The less visible part of our work is the monitoring of social networks,’ the police said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
‘Immediately after the shooting, teams of analysts began to elaborate and examine the various posts. The writers of the worst atrocities will have the opportunity to show their heroism in criminal proceedings.
‘Why is it important to remain silent at the right time and not demonise the shooter? Since yesterday, we have registered several specific cases of people who were (allegedly) inspired by the terrible act and want to follow it,’ the cops added.
‘We respond immediately, if you register something like this in your area, call 158.’
The update added: ‘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 really a prevention – a signal that we are here and we are ready.’
Later, during a press conference, the director of Prague’s police said they had arrested one person due to messages they posted online.
Czech interior minister Vit Rakusan said investigators do not suspect a link to any extremist ideology or groups.
A chilling image shared on local media purports to show the man dressed in black aiming a rifle at people below while standing on top of a faculty building
Other extraordinary images show terrified students cowering on a ledge high up on a faculty in a bid to hide from the gunman after others were told to barricade themselves in classrooms
A gun recovered by police in Prague which is thought to have been used in the attack
Police Chief Martin Vondrasek said police believe the gunman killed his father earlier on Thursday in his hometown of Hostoun, just west of Prague, and that he had also been planning to kill himself. He did not elaborate.
Later on Thursday, Mr Vondrasek said that based on a search of his home, the gunman was also suspected in the killing of another man and his two-month-old daughter on December 15 in Prague.
The chief described the gunman as an excellent student – who studied history – with no criminal record, but did not provide any other information.
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.
The shooting started at 3pm at the Charles University Faculty of Arts building and police said the gunman was ‘eliminated’ at 4pm after elite cops were seen storming the building
Horrified friends of the dead man said: ‘I remember him as a trainee from the camp and from the tourist section. He was friendly and up for every joke.
‘After school, he focused on himself and started playing a lot of sports. On that occasion he met his future wife.
‘This summer he talked about how happy he is in his life. He said he had a beautiful wife, a child and more on the way. What else could you wish for. He looked happy.
‘Who would do such a thing’.
The police chief described the gunman as an excellent student with no criminal record, but did not provide any other information.
The gunman suffered ‘devastating injuries’ but it was not clear if he killed himself or was shot to death in an exchange of gunfire with officers, Mr Vondrasek said, adding that there was ‘nothing to suggest that he had an accomplice’.
The gunman legally owned several guns – police said he was heavily armed on Thursday and was carrying a lot of ammunition – and that what he did was ‘well thought out, a horrible act’, Mr Vondrasek said.
University authorities said they would tighten security in university buildings with immediate effect.
A faculty member of the university, Zora Hesova, said people were still locked in classrooms inside the building as armed police officers descended on the scene
‘We mourn the loss of life of members of our university community, express our deepest condolences to all the bereaved and our thoughts are with all those affected by the tragedy,’ Charles University said in a statement.
The building where the shooting took place is in Jan Palach Square, a busy tourist area in Prague’s Old Town.
It is just a few minutes’ walk from the picturesque Old Town Square, a major tourist attraction where a popular Christmas market attracts thousands of visitors.
The government quickly sought to quell concerns that the massacre was backed by foreign interests.
‘There’s no indication that it has anything to do with international terrorism,’ Mr Rakusan said.
‘It’s a horrible crime, something the Czech Republic has never experienced.’
Pavel Nedoma, the director of the nearby Rudolfinum Gallery, said he watched from a window as a person standing on a balcony of the building fired a gun.
Authorities evacuated everyone from the building and police said they were still searching the area, including the balcony, for explosives.
The building forms part of the square and faces a bridge across the river with a view of Prague Castle, the seat of the Czech presidency.
President Petr Pavel said he was ‘shocked’ by what happened and offered his condolences to the relatives of the victims, as did leaders of Germany, France and Slovakia, the European Union and Israel.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sent a message of condolence.
She said: ‘The president and the first lady are praying for the families who lost loved ones and everyone else who has been affected by this senseless act of violence.
‘On behalf of the United States, we send our condolences and also wish the survivors of this tragic event a speedy recovery.’
The Czech government declared Saturday a national day of mourning to honour the shooting victims, prime minister Petr Fiala said.
Previously, the nation’s 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.