Czech authorities are probing whether mass Russian shootings influenced David Kozak to carry out a massacre at a Prague university.
They have found Russian language messages posted on the country’s social media app Telegram – and one indicates the attack may have been influenced by two previous mass shootings in Russia, reports The Independent.
One of the shootings was this month at a school in Bryansk near the Ukraine border and the other took place in 2021 in Kazan. David Kozak, 24, opened fire at Charles University in Prague on Thursday afternoon as people fled for their lives to escape the horror as it unfolded.
He killed at least 14 people and injured more than 20 – before he was shot dead by police. Kozak was a history student at the university and started the shooting on the fourth floor of the building with legally owned weapons.
He is also believed to have killed his own father before carrying out the massacre. The city’s police chief Martin Vondrasek said Kozak is also suspected of killing a man and his four-month-old daughter in Prague a week ago.
A day of mourning was announced in the Czech Republic after the shooting.
President Petr Pavel spoke of his “great sadness” and “helpless anger” at the “totally unnecessary” loss of life at a university in Prague. He said police had “eliminated” the gunman.
The shooting started at around 3pm local time – 2pm GMT – in the Faculty of Arts building at Charles University in central Prague. Kozak opened fire in the building and seemingly killed people at random.
Staff and students were forced to barricade themselves into rooms using furniture in an attempt to escape the massacre.
One striking image shows a line of students perched on the outside of the university building’s ledge in aa desperate bid to evade the gunman’s terror.
Kozak has no prior convictions. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said: “We are all shocked by this horrendous act.
“It is hard to find the words to express condemnation on the one hand and, on the other, the pain and sorrow that our entire society is feeling in these days before Christmas.”
Officers say the motive for the killing is not yet known.
