50
votes
Mass shooting, fifteen dead, at university in Prague, Czech Republic
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- Title
- Several killed in Prague university shooting, shooter 'eliminated', police say
- Published
- Dec 21 2023
- Word count
- 340 words
I've read here on Tildes that if I don't see the topic that I know about, I may as well post it myself.
Since I'm Czech and this is very heavy and absolutely not standard occurence here, I wanted to let others know what happened here today.
I have nothing to add to the article other than it isn't terrorist's attack and other schools and countries can be at ease. The student/shooter killed himself, it ended there (from the security of others point).
EDIT: I picked Reuters as it is trustworthy for me. Others inform about that too.
Not Czech but close, got family there and we live in Austria. Just got the news. Tragedy all around. One of the reports said something that made the cynic in me laugh when he described that "we're used to hearing those sort of news from the other side of the atlantic usually".
Yes, that is true. It's something we are not used to. If someone murders aother, that is kinda "normal", but such an attack is something we don't know here. I hope it stays that way with this being the only occurence.
Thank you for posting, I hadn't heard about this yet. What a heartbreakingly senseless tragedy, I mean all of these are. I'm beyond numb to mass shooting news at this point, and greatly disturbed that they have become so common that the headlines all blur together. This whole phenomenon is just so, so horribly senseless and infuriating.
I saw the death toll is at 15 now with 24 injured. I'm sorry to everyone in the Czech Republic impacted by this shooting. Just... Damn. That photo of people on the ledge outside a window is going to stick in my head for a while.
It was just confirmed the death toll is 14 with I think 25 injured, 10 of those severely.
Police says this shooting may have been dobe by the same person that shot to death man and two-months newborn when they were on a walk. Happened a few days ago. Shooter had quite a few firearms at home (they did a search), owned legally - but maybe not all of them. They will provide more info tomorrow.
Very sad to hear of this shooting.
The only thing I found remarkable, was this video of a reporter who reportedly saw the shooter trying to snipe innocent people and yelled and swore at him to distract his fire. Incredibly courageous.
https://packaged-media.redd.it/3c21ipcrpu7c1/pb/m2-res_480p.mp4?m=DASHPlaylist.mpd&v=1&e=1703296800&s=e6e998bfc770c20454019179ce253904ff1f4b11#t=0
According to another post: "Translating what he and the police officer say, the police officer gives the location details of the shooter to other police units, meanwhile the journalist helps him, but then decides to take matters into his own hands, shouting "HEY YOU FUCKER, FUCKER I'M HERE, SHOOT HERE, COME HERE" he says then tells the police officer to hide and shouts at the shooter some more to shoot at him. The shooter indeed fires on them, and as they are retreating back the journalist explains that he wanted to draw his fire back from innocents"
Holy cow, that is an incredible video. As a Czech, I confirm that this is indeed what he is screaming. That man has balls.
I am unfamiliar with Czech firearm laws, anyone here that can provide a general overview of accessibility to such and the checks in place?
You have to obtain a gun license, which requires that you pass the test (gun laws, safe handling, there is a "practical" exam - shooting), you are healthy (medical check) and you don't have a criminal record.
There is a video How Are Czech Gun Laws? (and Gun Stores)
EDIT: I just re-watched the video and it is actually mostly about guns, they only touch the laws lightly - perhaps better source would be Wikipedia article Gun law in the Czech Republic
Clarification - all found firearms belonged to shooter. It's not like every second student had firearms with them or there were drawers full of guns.
Personally I don't know about Czech firearms laws. I believe if you do trials and all the hoops you get yoir licence (or whatever it's called in English) and you can buy guns. I think there is some limited amount you can have. And you can't have full-auto guns, semi-auto (one trigger pull = one shot, no burst fire) are allowed.
I have the feeling that laws about guns here are fine, it's not that easy to have a gun so everyone has one, but it's not that hard for people that want to have it and are prepared to do something for it.
I think there are no psycho(logy) tests when you want licence though. And there are no such tests once you have it to my knowledge. This may or may not have helped in such case. I'm not in position/no expert to say if it is needed and should be a part of laws in the future.
They are generally considered (especially pre-2017) to be some of the most liberal gun laws in Europe (though stricter than the U.S.). Most American gun owners know Czechia as being one of the few countries you can legally concealed carry in.