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Gunman shoots dead six in Czech hospital then kills himself Gunman shoots dead six in Czech hospital then kills himself
(about 1 hour later)
Attack in hospital waiting room in Ostrava is deadliest mass shooting in country since 2015Attack in hospital waiting room in Ostrava is deadliest mass shooting in country since 2015
A man has shot dead six people in a hospital waiting room in the Czech city of Ostrava before shooting himself, authorities have said. A gunman has killed six people in a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava before fleeing and fatally shooting himself.
About three hours after the attack, police found the suspect dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a vehicle, according to media reports. It was the worst shooting in the Czech Republic, where gun crime is relatively rare, since a man shot eight people dead and then killed himself at a restaurant in Uherský Brod in 2015.
The police tweeted: “Police found the car and there was shooting heard from the site. We are establishing the identity of the man who shot himself in the head before the police action.” It was unclear what motivated the shooting, which happened in the early morning at the outpatient clinic of the University hospital in Ostrava,near the Polish border.
The mass shooting on Tuesday was the deadliest in the country since 2015, when a man killed eight people before killing himself in a pub in the eastern city of Uherský Brod. The prime minister, Andrej Babiš, told reporters it was an “individual act”.
Police said they received calls about the incident at 7.19 am (0619 GMT) at the University hospital in Ostrava, an eastern city near the Polish border. Officers arrived at the scene five minutes later. The 42-year-old gunman fled the hospital after the attack, prompting a search involving hundreds of officers. He later shot himself in the head in his car as a police helicopter flew overhead.
The director of the hospital, Jiří Havrlant, said five people were killed in the attack and another had died while undergoing surgery. Two others were seriously injured, he said. No medics were wounded in the incident. He died about a half an hour later after police were unable to resuscitate him, the interior minister, Jan Hamáček, said. “The perpetrator of this horrendous act is dead.”
The attack happened in the waiting room of the outpatients clinic and victims had been shot at close range, Havrlant said. Czech Radio, citing the director of the firm where he worked, identified the suspect as a local construction technician and said he had been on medical leave. Reuters could not immediately confirm that.
Police said they received calls at 7.19am (0619 GMT) and officers arrived at the scene five minutes later.
The hospital director, Jiří Havrlant, said five people died in the attack and one died in surgery. Another two were seriously injured and no medics were hurt, he said.
The victims, four men and two women, had been shot at close range, he said.
The head of the regional police department, Tomáš Kužel, said the attacker was silent as he carried out the shooting and there was no indication of accomplices.