A MURDERER art student is believed to have shot dead a father and newborn just a week before his murderous rampage.
Czech police said David Kozak (24) killed at least 14 people and wounded 25 today after opening fire with a sniper rifle at a university in Prague.
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Crowds could be seen fleeing Charles University in Prague after a gunman opened fireCredit: Twitter
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The shooter has been named as 24-year-old student David Kozak
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A Cossack was pictured on the roof of a university building holding a sniper rifle Credit: Twitter
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Terrified students were seen clinging to a roof ledge after the gunman opened fireCredit: Twitter
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A total of 15 people have died so far, including the shooter Credit: Alamy
Before the horror shooting from the roof of his university, Kozak killed his own father.
During the shooting at Charles University in the Czech capital, panicked crowds were seen running for their lives with their hands in the air.
Others were seen jumping from windows onto ledges as they tried to escape.
Kozak killed at least 14 people and injured 25 others – 10 of whom were seriously wounded – in the worst mass shooting in the history of the Czech Republic.
The officers then found the body of the monster, after he had killed himself.
Police Chief Martin Vondrasek has now said officers believe Kozak was connected to two other murders last week – a dad and a baby.
Local media iRozhlas reported that a top police officer said at a press conference: “We are working very seriously with the fact that the attacker from the Faculty of Philosophy is also responsible for two victims since the end of last week in Klánovický les.
“I personally spoke with the head of the Prague criminal investigators.
They carried out a huge number of operations and until Thursday no one managed to find out the identity of the suspect.
The shooting was said to have happened last Friday and police arrived to find a dead man and a newborn baby.
Today, the boss said that Kozak went to Prague with a rifle in his hand after he was “inspired by a terrible event, a similar event, abroad”.
Local media reports say the 24-year-old kept a diary on Telegram where he allegedly wrote: “‘I want to shoot up a school and maybe commit suicide’.”
Kozak is believed to have been potentially inspired by the school shooting in Russia earlier this month by 14-year-old student Alina Afanaskina.
He is thought to have lived in a village 13 miles outside of Prague and was also a student at the university for a master’s degree.
The shooting happened shortly after 3:00 PM (2:00 PM GMT) when a lone assailant opened fire on the Faculty of Philosophy building on Jan Palach Square.
Footage of the attack shows terrified staff and students barricading themselves inside their classrooms with stacks of chairs and tables.
On a terrible day in Prague:
- Art student David Kozak killed victims at random from the balcony of the university
- Shocking footage shows students crouching on the roof as the gunman opened fire
- Kozak is believed to have killed his father in a nearby town before the shooting
- The other students were forced to balance on a high ledge as they hid from the attacker who was walking around on the roof of the five-story building.
- Police found Kozak’s body inside the university after he took his own life
- It is the worst mass shooting in the history of the Czech Republic
Up to 200 students were moved to safety and taken across the road away from the building.
The square, located about 500 meters from the historic Charles Bridge in central Prague, was closed and police urged people to stay inside.
They are still searching the area, including the balconies of the building, for possible explosives.
Vit Rakusan, the Czech interior minister, said the mass shooting was not believed to be linked to international terrorism.
A British father who was in the popular square with his family at the time said his daughter, 25, spotted the attacker lurking on the roof.
He told The Sun: “My daughter said: ‘Dad, look up, there’s a guy on the roof’.
“And all of a sudden it just went mental, it sounded like a bunch of firecrackers.
“I would say that about 30 people were shot. A dead guy was lying on the right side of the square, he was shot in the chest.
“We just ran and got to our AirBnB which is four minutes away from the square.
“We are now trying to get an earlier flight to Gatwick.”
Charles University told staff to “stay put” and lock the doors.
“Do not go anywhere, if you are in the offices, lock them and put the furniture in front of the door, turn off the lights,” reads the email to the staff of the Faculty of Philosophy.
One student described “cops with guns everywhere.”
They told CNN Prima News: “They kicked us out of school shouting ‘Hands up!'”
Another eyewitness said: “Some students were hiding on the walkway and someone fell from the roof.”
A witness inside the university building said the gunman was seen walking along the edge of the roof.
Another student posted a photo of his classroom door barricaded with desks and chairs.
He said: “I am currently stuck in my classroom in Prague. The shooter is dead but we are waiting to be evacuated.
“I pray I survive. I locked the door before the shooter tried to open it.”
Petr Nedoma, director of a nearby gallery, told ČT24: “I saw a young man… who had a weapon in his hand, a machine gun, shooting towards the Mánes bridge.
“He shot multiple times.”
Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda said he was “completely shocked” by the attack.
“Please be careful. We will update as soon as we know more details,” he told residents.
A newlywed couple from Surrey have told of the moment a police officer ordered them to stay down when they found themselves near the carnage.
Tom Leese, 34, a video producer, and his wife Rachael, 31, a presenter, were on their honeymoon in Prague and visited the Slivovitz Museum.
Mr Leese said: “A policeman came in and started shouting loudly in what I believe was Czech.
“I asked for it in English and he said he was an active shooter and to stay in and down.
“The staff was very calm, they turned off all the lights very quickly and asked us to stay calm, the restaurant was relatively quiet.
– The policeman left immediately, and we stood in the corner of the restaurant.
Czech police are also investigating an alleged bomb threat at the city library in Prague, according to multiple sources.
The main building was evacuated, and the nearby Valentinská Street was closed.
Gun crime is relatively rare in the Czech Republic.
However, in December 2019, a 42-year-old gunman killed six people in a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava before fleeing and fatally shooting himself, police said.
In 2015, a man killed eight people and then killed himself in a restaurant in the town of Uhersky Brod.
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A student posted a photo of his classroom door barricaded with chairs and tables Credit: Twitter
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Suspected attacker seen on roof of university buildingCredit: Twitter
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Panicked crowds were seen running across the famous Charles Bridge after shots were firedCredit: Twitter
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11 people were seriously wounded during the attack that killed 15 and injured dozens Credit: AP
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Tom and Rachel Leese’s British honeymoon was caught in the carnageCredit: PA
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