A 24-year-old student killed at least 15 people in the roundabout Charles University in Prague and shortly afterwards he was found dead in the same area, announced the authorities, who have ruled out the possibility that it was an attack of “international terrorism”.

Heavy police forces, heavily armed, were mobilized when the attack began in the historic center of the Czech capital. Many buildings were evacuated and residents were asked to stay indoors.

The attack took place at the School of Fine Arts, very close to major tourist attractions such as the 14th century Charles Bridge.

“There is nothing to suggest that the crime is linked to international terrorism,” Interior Minister Vit Rakusan told reporters.

According to the latest report announced by the head of the Czech police Martin Vodrasek, 15 people were killed and at least 24 were injured. Nine of the injured are hospitalized in serious condition.

Vodrasek told reporters that police were looking for the 24-year-old before he launched his attack at the university when his father was found dead in the village of Hostun, west of Prague. The young man “left for Prague saying he wanted to kill himself,” the police chief said.

The authorities hinted that the 24-year-old killed his father.

Police officers first searched the building of the School of Fine Arts, where the student was going to attend a class. But he had gone to another, neighboring building and they did not find him in time.

“At 1:59 p.m. we received the first information about the shootings,” Vodrasek said, adding that the rapid response unit arrived at the scene within 12 minutes.

“At 2:20 p.m., the police officers involved in the operation told us that they saw the body of the assailant,” he continued, adding that, based on unconfirmed information, the 24-year-old committed suicide.

Citing an investigation into social networking sites, Vodracek said the attacker was “inspired” by a “similar case that took place in Russia in the fall,” without elaborating.

“For now, there is no reason to believe that there is any immediate danger,” he stressed.

None of the police officers involved in the operation were injured. Authorities have not yet begun identifying the victims because fire investigators have not completed their investigation of the university grounds.

Police evacuated the university, using a concert hall across the street as a temporary shelter.

The worst mass killing in the Czech Republic since 1993, when the country became an independent state, shocked the world. “Shocked” by the events, the president of the country, Petr Pavel, said, expressing his condolences to the families and friends of the victims.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, also sent a message of support to the families and the Czech people, while the presidents of France, Emmanuel Macron, of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, the US presidential couple, Joe and Jane Biden, and leaders of other countries expressed their “solidarity » them to the Czechs.

Mass shootings with firearms are not common in the Czech Republic, but there have been a few in the past decade. In 2015, a 63-year-old man killed seven men and one woman before taking his own life inside a restaurant in the town of Uhersky Brod. In 2019, a man killed seven people in a hospital waiting room in Ostrava. The attacker committed suicide approximately three hours after the attack.