Minute of silence, flags at half-mast and crowds across the country: The Czech Republic on Saturday commemorated the victims of the massacre that killed 14 people at the University of Prague two days ago, the worst attack of its kind in the country this year.
• Also read: The Czech Republic mourns after a shooting that leaves 14 dead
• Also read: Shooting in Prague leaves 14 dead, attacker found dead
A minute's silence was observed at midday Saturday and bells rang in churches across the EU and NATO member country, two days after a 24-year-old university student opened fire before committing suicide.
“We all try to build heaven on earth, but the reality of life shows us that there is evil,” said Prague Archbishop Jan Graubner as he celebrated a mass for those in St. Vitus Cathedral at Prague Castle Sacrifice celebrated.
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According to the students who attended the fair, President Petr Pavel was present.
Fourteen people died: thirteen at the time of the shooting, 25 were also injured, and one died from his injuries on Friday.
“It is difficult to find the words to express, on the one hand, the condemnation and, on the other hand, the pain and sadness that our entire population is feeling in these days before Christmas,” said Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
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Thousands of candles were lit in an improvised memorial in front of the Faculty of Arts and the headquarters of Charles University in the historic center of Prague.
The identities of the victims, students and teachers, have been released.
Among the victims were Finnish literary expert Jan Dlask and student Lucie Spindlerova.
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Among the injured are a Dutch citizen and two from the United Arab Emirates.
Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said no connection could be made between the attack and “international terrorism” and that the attacker had acted independently.
“Huge arsenal”
Since Thursday, police have arrested four people who threatened or approved a repeat of the attack. The Interior Minister said police surveillance of certain locations and school buildings will be organized at least until January 1st.
Police Chief Martin Vondrasek emphasized that the attacker, who was unknown to the courts, had a “huge arsenal of weapons and ammunition.”
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Vondrasek said police began searching for the student before the shooting because his father's body was found in the village of Hostoun, west of Prague.
The student had also told a friend that he was contemplating suicide in Prague.
The police then searched a building in the Faculty of Philosophy where the murderer was supposed to report for a lecture, but eventually went near the main building of the university.
At around 2:00 p.m. (GMT), police became aware of the shots fired and sent an intervention unit to the scene. Twenty minutes later the attacker was dead.
The shooter's social media account suggested he was inspired by a similar attack in Russia, Mr. Vondrasek said.
A two month old victim
After a search of the shooter's apartment, police linked him to the unsolved murder of a young man and his two-month-old daughter in a forest near Prague on December 15.
“Ballistic analysis revealed that the weapon used in the woods was identical to the one found in the university shooter’s home,” police said on X.
Messages of condolence and compassion have been received from all over the world from Pope Francis, the American, French and Ukrainian presidents and, in particular, from King Charles of Great Britain.
“This could have happened to anyone. In fact, it could have been me,” said student Antonin Volavka on Friday as he lit a candle at the makeshift memorial.
The Czech Republic is the 12th safest country in the world, according to the Global Peace Index 2023, and gun violence is rare there. But in 2015, a man shot seven men and a woman before killing himself at a restaurant in the southeast, while another gunman killed seven people at a hospital in the east of the country and then himself in 2019.