Shooting in Philosophy Building at Charles University in Prague (updated)
Eleven people were killed and approximately 30 more injured in a shooting that took place at Charles University in Prague, in the building that houses the university’s Department of Philosophy. The shooter is dead.
The shooting took place this afternoon in the downtown Prague building on Jan Palach Square, according to multiple news outlets. The philosophy department was evacuated and the square was cordoned off.
Reportedly, some people hid from the shooter by crouching on a ledge on the outside of the building:
[photo from X/Twitter; said to be people hiding from a shooter at Charles University in Prague]
[People evacuate the building at Charles University in Prague where the shooting took place. photo: AKtu.cz]
UPDATE 2 (12/21/23): The New York Times reports:
- the shooter killed 14 people
- the shooter was a history student
- police believe he shot his father at their family home in Kladno before heading into Prague
- the shooter is believed to have been inspired by mass shootings that had taken place in Russia, based on social media posts he is believed to have made. One of the posts says, “I always wanted to kill. I thought I would be a maniac in the future.”
- a police spokesman said of the shooter, “He had a lot of guns, special army guns, but all of these guns were legal.”
- police had information “that an attack at the school was imminent” and so were already nearby when the shooting began.
Heartbreaking, esp. as I was just visiting with some philosophers in Prague last month.
Early reports suggest that the Philosophy Dept. was targeted or at least that’s where it happened, not that the Phil. Dept, merely happened to be near the shooting: https://www.npr.org/2023/12/21/1220939974/prague-school-shooting-deaths
Thanks, Patrick. It is unclear whether the Department of Philosophy was specifically targeted. It is also unclear whether the student was a philosophy student. The police officer’s quote in the NPR article you linked to is ambiguous as to whether the officer is describing him as a student at the university or more specifically as a philosophy student. According to this page, the shooter had a bachelor’s degree in history and European studies and either had or was working on a master’s degree in history. If I find out anything on these matters, I’ll update the post.
It seems that he wrote his 2022 Bachelor’s thesis at the Faculty of Philosophy, see
https://dspace.cuni.cz/bitstream/handle/20.500.11956/175003/130335627.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
The thesis was written under the supervision of a history professor. See also the comment from Karel.
Note that “Filosofická Fakulta” of Charles University is usually translated as “Faculty of Arts”, which also includes Sociology and History. The main faculty building, where the shooting happened, is located on Jan Palach square.
The Katedra Logiky (Chair of Logic) is located on Celetna, quite far from the main building (I worked there for half a year in 1993).
The building where the shooting took place is the main building of the Faculty of Philosophy, which is how Charles’s faculty of arts is called. The shooting appears to have happened on the 4th floor, whereas the Philosophy Department is on the 2nd floor.
Thanks for this information.
Simply horrible. May those whose lives were so senselessly cut short rest in peace.
(And this hits home somehow, as my grandfather did his philosophy doctorate in that very department so many years ago).
This is a truly horrific event. I recently attended the annual memorial event in remembrance of those killed in the shooting at École polytechnique in Montreal on December 6, 1989, in which 14 young women engineers were murdered. Many of my current colleagues were students nearby when this occurred and are haunted by it. I feel for the students and faculty who lived through this. My heart and condolences to the families and friends of those who have been killed.