San Francisco Frontiers - Shock, tears as Prague reels from university shooting

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Shock, tears as Prague reels from university shooting

EDUCATION 22.12.2023

Shock, tears as Prague reels from university shooting / Photo: © AFP

The mourners huddled in small groups, many tearful or visibly shocked, as they gathered Friday to pay their respects to victims of the shootings at Prague's Charles University.

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Students gathered at the small memorial as flurries of snow and rain took turns with the winter sunshine.

The day before, a 24-year-old student opened fire at the Faculty of Arts, killing 13 people inside the school before shooting himself dead.

He also wounded 25 people, one of whom died in hospital, bringing the total toll to 14.

All lights were on inside the faculty on Friday morning, with police guards still deployed outside the building sealed off with police tape.

Across the street in Prague's historic centre, not far from the iconic 14th-century Charles Bridge, dozens of candles were lit mostly by young mourners in the nearby large square.

"I have come to pay tribute to the dead students, especially because this could have happened to anyone," technical university student Antonin Volavka told AFP after lighting his candle.

"Really, it could have been me."

"It hit me really hard yesterday," said secondary school student Julie Grave, who added that she hoped to study at the faculty some day.

"I mourned with the whole family and I guess I'll be like that for a long time," she said.

"It's an absolute atrocity, and on top of that, just before Christmas."

- 'This is not America' -

Older mourners, such as state employee Jana Mala, were equally shocked.

"It's something that has never happened here and it's a tragedy," she told AFP.

"When you realise your kids are the same age and that it can happen to anyone anywhere, it's terrible."

Italian teacher Monia Camuglia, who came with her daughter, had on Thursday feared for her colleagues and friends working at the faculty until she learned they were safe.

"I was at work and heard police sirens and it was simply incredible," said Camuglia, an Italian who has lived in Prague for several years.

"I was completely shocked."

Police chief Martin Vondrasek was equally shaken after visiting the crime scene.

"I have been in service for 31 years and I have seen a lot," he told journalists. "But what I saw yesterday was the most shattering experience in my life."

A group of students at the memorial had come across the river from a local grammar school. It had cancelled a school concert in the wake of the shootings, giving them time to show up.

"I have come to express my sorrow over the disaster that happened here. It's something unexpected, nothing like this has ever happened in Prague," said 17-year-old Richard Smaha.