At least 14 dead and dozens wounded after gunman opens fire at Prague university

A gunman killed at least 14 people and wounded 24 before being found dead by police at Charles University in central Prague.

“The gunman was eliminated,” police said in a social media post on Thursday.

The building was evacuated, authorities said.

“There are several dead and dozens of wounded people on the scene,” police added.

Officers closed off Jan Palach Square, where the university is located.

The suspect’s body was found at the university’s arts faculty, police later confirmed in a media briefing.

The suspect was a student at the university from a nearby village and his father was found dead earlier on Thursday, police said, adding that the shooting was not linked to “international terrorism”.

No details have been released about the victims.

Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said “no other gunman has been confirmed”.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala has cancelled planned events in the country’s east to travel to the capital.

When the shooting was first reported, Charles University instructed staff at its arts faculty to stay in place and lock all doors.

“Stay put, don’t go anywhere, if you’re in the offices, lock them and place furniture in front of the door, turn off the lights,” the university said in an email to staff.

The faculty was later evacuated, Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda said.

Pavel Nedoma, the director of Rudolfinum art gallery, near the university, said he saw a man fire a gun towards the Manes Bridge across the Vltava River.

“I saw a young person on the gallery who had some weapon in his hand, like an automatic weapon, and shooting towards the Manes Bridge repeatedly, with some interruptions,” Mr Nedoma said. “Then I saw as he shot, put his hands up and threw the weapon down on the street, it lay there on the pedestrian crossing.”

Lara, a student, said: “It was terribly scary, there were a lot of policemen everywhere, who were shouting at us with submachine guns, telling us to run outside.”

Thursday’s incident was the deadliest shooting in the Czech Republic since it gained independence 30 years ago.