Prague university shooting leaves 'several' dead, police say

PRAGUE (Reuters) – Several people were killed and dozens injured in a shooting at a university in Prague on Thursday. The shooter was later “eliminated” by police, according to Czech police.

Czech police reported the school shooting at Prague’s Jan Palach Square shortly after 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) and then later announced the shooter had been “eliminated”.

“The entire building is currently being evacuated and there are several dead and tens of injured at the site,” police said on social media platform X, formerly Twitter.

According to an email sent to staff and students at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, a shooter was in one of its buildings and staff were instructed to “stay put”.

“Don’t go anywhere, if you’re in the offices, lock them and place furniture in front of the door, turn off the lights,” the email said.

One X user posted a photo of a group of students, hiding crouched on a ledge of the building.

The police have sealed off the square and the area adjacent to the university building, which is located in a busy part of town with a popular street leading tourists to Old Town Square

“According to preliminary information, the shooter himself should be dead, there are dead and wounded on site, I will not speculate now about the final number,” Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said on Czech Television.

Prime Minister Petr Fiala cancelled his trip to the east of the country and was en route to Prague, he said on X.

Gun crime is relatively rare in the Czech Republic. In December 2019, a 42-year-old gunman killed six people at a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava before fleeing and fatally shooting himself, police said.

In 2015, a man fatally shot eight people and then killed himself at a restaurant in Uhersky Brod.

(Reporting by Jan Lopatka and Jason Hovet; Writing by Jason Hovet and Tomasz Janowski; Editing by Toby Chopra and Alison Williams)