The Czech Republic mourns the fifteen victims of Thursday’s deadly shooting. 25 people were injured, including 1 Dutchman. He is still in hospital, but is out of danger.
One of the victims of the Prague shooting has died in hospital. This brings the number of deaths to fifteen.
All fatalities are of Czech nationality, Interior Minister Vit Rakusan and police chief Martin Vondrasek announced. The 25 injured include one Dutch national and two residents of the United Arab Emirates. The Dutch man is out of danger, but is still in hospital. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported this on Friday morning.
National mourning
The Czech government has declared Saturday a day of national mourning. A requiem mass for all the victims will be celebrated at 11 a.m. in the cathedral of Prague Castle. The philosophy faculty where the tragedy took place will remain closed for a few more weeks.
Authorities on Thursday released footage from the body cameras police officers were wearing when they arrived on the scene. Rakusan praised the actions of the police, who he said had been extremely professional. The medical staff in the hospitals also received a pat on the back. The tragedy would have been difficult to prevent because the shooter was not on the radar of any authority.
Rakusan debunked some rumors doing the rounds on social media. There is no mention of killed police officers, nor of a link with the war in Ukraine. “The perpetrator is a Czech who has lived in the Czech Republic all his life.” The 24-year-old student had no criminal record and had a permit for his firearms. The police guarded his home for some time for fear of attacks by indignant citizens, but that surveillance has now been lifted. Family members of the shooter did face threats. The police are investigating who they came from.
Eh Earlier, the authorities had already announced that Kozak had shot his father dead in their home in Hostoun, a village twenty kilometers from Prague, prior to the shooting. The police had issued an arrest notice for the student, because there were indications that he wanted to kill himself or cause a massacre in the capital. In the basement of his house, officers found gas bombs, ammunition and material with explosive content .
At Charles University in Prague, a building where the student was supposed to attend a lecture was evacuated, but Kozak entered another building at the Faculty of Arts. There he opened fire on the fourth floor with a heavy weapon. Bystanders were able to take photos and videos from Jan Palachplein of students who risked their lives by taking shelter on a narrow ledge high above the ground. Shooter Kozak was also filmed and photographed on a terrace of the building: lying down, looking through the sights of his weapon, and standing, in a frozen position.
Motives
Kozak’s motives quickly became clear in the hours after the shooting. On Telegram, the student wrote that he had “a worthless life”, wanted to leave the world “with as much pain as possible” and that “everyone hated me, still hates me and will continue to hate me.” I don’t care, it’s mutual.”
It is unclear why Kozak felt so hated. He had a bachelor’s degree in history and European studies and a master’s degree in history. His specialization in Polish history and the 1846 revolution earned him a prize for his thesis in May.
In his posts, the student claimed he was inspired by Alina Afanaskina, a 14-year-old girl who shot dead a 13-year-old classmate and injured five people at a school in Bryansk, Russia, on December 7. She did this with her father’s riot gun, with which she also shot herself. Alina was bullied and had arguments with some classmates. Remarkably, her twin sister was in the classroom where the girl was shooting around.
When it comes to gun legislation, the Czech Republic is one of the least strict in the European class. There are said to be more than 800,000 firearms in circulation among 300,000 permit holders, in a population of 10.5 million people. Czechs can obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon without giving a reason. It is the only European country where the right to bear a weapon is included in the constitution. This shooting is the deadliest since the Czech Republic’s independence in 1993.
Talking about suicidal thoughts can be done anonymously: chat via www.113.nl, call 113 or call 0800-0113 for free.