Czech police arrest suspect who said ‘he was inspired’ by Prague shooter and wanted to ‘also kill’

The Police of the Czech Republic released bodycam footage on Friday showing the moment officers arrested a suspect they say admitted to being “inspired” by the Prague mass shooter and “wanted to buy a gun and also kill.” 

The development comes as police say they have boosted security at schools and other “soft targets” in the wake of Thursday’s attack at Charles University, which left 14 people dead and dozens injured. 

“At half past eleven yesterday, the caller told us that he was inspired by the shooter, that he wanted to buy a gun and also kill,” Czech police wrote in a post on X. “After a few hours, he was identified and below is a video of his arrest. Actions are still ongoing, so far qualified as spreading an alarm message.” 

The video shows armed officers ascending a stairwell of an apartment building before breaching a door and entering a residence while yelling. 

PRAGUE SHOOTING SUSPECT WAS A STUDENT AT CHARLES UNIVERSITY 

Meanwhile, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said Saturday will be a national day of mourning for the Prague shooting victims, according to Sky News. 

Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said police worked overnight, and all 14 people who died in the attack have been identified. The Institute of Music Sciences at Charles University confirmed that its head, Lenka Hlávková, was among the dead. 

The Czech Foreign Ministry said three of the wounded were foreigners, two from the United Arab Emirates and one from the Netherlands. 

Petr Matejcek, the director of the police regional headquarters in Prague, said the gunman – who was a 24-year-old student at Charles University – killed himself on the balcony of a university building when police officers approached him.  

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As of Friday, the motive for the shooting remains unclear, but investigators say there is no apparent link to terrorism and that the shooter is believed to have acted alone. 

Prague Police Chief Martin Vondrasek said they believe the man killed his father earlier on Thursday in his hometown of Hostoun, just west of Prague, and that he had also been planning to kill himself. He also said the gunman was suspected of killing a man and his 2-month-old daughter on Dec. 15 in Prague. 

Vondrasek also told reporters that police have “unconfirmed information from an account on a social network” that the shooter “was supposedly inspired by one terrorist attack in Russia in the autumn of this year,” according to Reuters.

 

The gunman also legally owned several guns and was heavily armed during the attack, The Associated Press reports, citing police. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.