By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
PRAGUE (Worthy News) – The Czech Republic plunged into a day of national mourning Saturday after a student killed 14 people and wounded 25 others at his Prague university in the worst mass shooting in the country’s, and Europe’s, recent history.
It seemed that even the heavens cried on Saturday: in pouring rain people placed flowers and candles in the square by the Charles University buildings in Prague after the country’s worst-ever mass shooting.
On Thursday a 24-year-old Czech student named as David Koza shot his father dead before killing more than a dozen people and wounding at least 25 others at his Prague university.
Dramatic footage has emerged of police rushing to stop the gunman. Outside students huddled on a high outdoor ledge to escape the shooting. He then killed himself.
The shooter was also linked to the killing of a young father and his two-year-old daughter, apparently to gruesomely train for his planned massacre several days later.
Police discovered a large arsenal of weapons at the downtown Prague Charles University building where the shooting took place.
STUDENTS MOURNING
Outside on Saturday, a national moment of silence, called for by the government and Churches also remembered the victims.
Among those holding a vigil near Charles university were several students including Jakob Vasák. “Because I am a student of this university you cannot not feel part of this somehow. Even though happy enough to not have any friends who died. However I still feel part of what happened,” he said.
“And I just wanted to be with them at this place which is on one hand sad. At the other hand it is quite visible that a lot of people mourn. And somehow we are trying to overcome this and maybe with those who are dead,” the student added.
“I am here, because I am a part of Charles university. It touches me. Because it is horrible. It touches me and I felt I have to come. I feel with the victims of this attack,” a young woman said.
Questions will be asked about the Czech Republic’s liberal gun legislation, including its constitutional right to bear arms, as nearly a million weapons are owned among a population of just over 10 million.
But for now, this nation, and much of Europe, is united in grief.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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