Police Confirm Prague Shooter, David Kozak, Committed Suicide
David Kozak, the 24-year-old gunman in the Prague mass shooting, committed suicide after he killed 14 people at the university, authorities confirmed.
“He was left with a shotgun which does not have long range, and when we were nearing the balcony he decided to commit suicide,” Petr Matejcek, director of the Prague regional police said following the tragic event. Authorities also confirmed that David Kozak took his own life when he became aware of officers nearby.
The 24-year-old was carrying numerous weapons when he opened fire at the university, police have revealed.
Kozak is also believed to have killed his father before the attack on Thursday, police officials stated. He was described as an excellent student with no criminal record.
David Kozak's Social Media Is Being Investigated
Czech authorities are looking into a potential connection between a series of Russian-language messages posted on Telegram and Kozak, per Independent.
One of those messages “indicated that inspiration for the attack may have been drawn from two previous mass shootings in Russia—one occurring this month at a school in Bryansk near the Ukraine border, and the second in 2021 in Kazan,” per the outlet.
Charles University Releases Statement Following Mass Shooting
The Institute of Music Science at Charles University’s philosophy department released the following statement following the mass shooting:
“On the basis of verified information from the family and with their permission, we are announcing that our colleague and director of the Institute of Musicology of the Faculty of Music of the Faculty of Music, Lenka Hlávková did not survive yesterday’s attack.
We express our deepest condolences to all the bereaved, first and foremost to the family. This is extremely cruel news for all of us. Let’s stay in support of each other.”
Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda also spoke out, telling Czech television, “We always thought that this was a thing that did not concern us. Now it turns out that, unfortunately, our world is also changing and the problem of the individual shooter is emerging here as well.”
The gunman, who was a 24-year-old history student at the university, began shooting on the fourth floor of the building with legally owned weapons.
One student shared a photo from inside the classroom, as they locked and boarded up the door for safety. “Locked the door before the shooter tried to open it,” the student wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.
Currently stuck inside my classroom in Prague. Shooter is dead, but we are waiting to be evacuated. Praying to make it out alive.
Locked the door before the shooter tried to open it. Fucking hell. pic.twitter.com/wYyhOe5U6p
— Jakob Weizman (@jakobweizman) December 21, 2023
Police have confirmed this to be one of the Czech Republic’s worst mass shootings of its kind. The last mass shooting was in 2019 when seven people were killed by a gunman, who later took his own life in an Ostrava hospital.
A motive is still under investigation for the Prague mass shooting. The Blast will continue to report on any updates surrounding the unfortunate events that occurred in Prague on Thursday, December 21.
