PRAGUE -- The Czech Republic has declared a national day of mourning on December 23 for the 13 people killed by a 24-year-old student in central Prague in a mass shooting that has shocked the Central European nation and has prompted multiple messages of solidarity.
Interior Minister Vit Rakusan clarified that earlier reports that 14 people had been killed in the attack carried out at a building of Charles University included the shooter, who police now confirm died by suicide.
The shooting at Charles University in central Prague on December 21 also wounded 25 people, including 10 seriously. It was the country's worst mass shooting and one of the worst on record in Europe.
"The Czech Republic has never experienced such an act,” Rakusan said shortly after the shooting, adding that there was no indication that the shooting had any connection with international terrorism.
"I was at the scene of a horrific crime a moment ago. I saw a huge arsenal of weapons and ammunition in the faculty building," police chief Martin Vondrasek said. "If it weren't for the quick intervention of the police, there would have been many times more victims."
Your browser doesn’t support HTML5
Witnesses Describe Bloody Scenes At Prague University Shooting
Vondrasek said police believe the shooter killed his father in his hometown of Hostoun, west of Prague, earlier in the day, and that he had also been planning to kill himself.
He added that police are investigating whether the shooter, a legal gun owner, is the same assailant who killed a 32-year-old man and his 2-month-old daughter on December 15 in a park in Prague.
Czech media reports say that police are looking into social media posts allegedly written by the shooter to determine if there was a link to the attack.
Police announced on December 22 that they had launched a nationwide effort to secure schools and other soft targets, while stressing that the measure was preventative and that no specific threats had been identified.
Mass shootings are rare in Europe, but there were at least three others this year. A gunman in March in the German city of Hamburg shot dead six people and wounded eight before killing himself.
The other two took place in Serbia in a single week in May. A 13-year-old boy gunned down eight fellow students and a security guard in a Belgrade school. Two days later, a gunman killed eight people and wounded 14 others in a village near the Serbian capital.
People wait near the building of the Philosophical Faculty of Charles University in downtown Prague on December 21.
Reactions to the Prague shooting came from other European capitals and from the acting president of RFE/RL, whose headquarters is in Prague about 6 kilometers from Charles University.
"RFE/RL joins with our community in Prague in expressing solidarity with all affected by today’s shocking events at Charles University," acting President Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement.
Czech 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, Slovakia, the European Union, and Israel.
The White House said the United States is ready to support the Czech Republic as needed.
"Federal authorities are in touch with Czech authorities as they investigate this incident, and we stand ready to provide additional support as needed," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy also reacted with shock and sadness.
"I express my sincere condolences to the families of the victims and wish the injured a speedy recovery, he said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
The shooting took place in the philosophy department building of Charles University’s Faculty of Arts located on Jan Palach Square, causing panic throughout the center of Prague.
A photo that circulated on social media showed a group of eight students who climbed through windows to hide on a ledge of the building about five stories up.
People light candles in front of the main building of Charles University following the mass shooting.
A teacher at the university, Sergei Medvedev, confirmed to RFE/RL that teachers and students received e-mail messages instructing them to stay barricaded in their classrooms and turn off lights to protect themselves from the shooter, who was inside the building at the time.
Medvedev said he was lecturing when he and his students began hearing people shouting and sirens. When they looked out the window and saw streets cordoned off and the bridge empty, they barricaded themselves in the classroom until special forces arrived.
All the students who were with him got out safely, he said, but on their way out they saw a "horrible" scene that included blood in the stairway and stretchers that appeared to have bodies on them.
"We didn’t know what was happening...and how it was going to end," student Liza Chukharova told Current Time, describing how she and fellow students barricaded themselves in their classroom for 40 minutes until special forces came and told them to walk out with their hands raised.
"There was too much blood everywhere and stretchers around," she said, adding that emergency staff were on hand to provide psychological support to those who needed it along with tea and metallic covers to warm themselves.
"They are saying that everything is going to be all right," she said.