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Gunman shoots dead six in Czech hospital then kills himself | Gunman shoots dead six in Czech hospital then kills himself |
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Attack in hospital waiting room in Ostrava is deadliest mass shooting in country since 2015 | Attack in hospital waiting room in Ostrava is deadliest mass shooting in country since 2015 |
A gunman has killed six people in a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava before fleeing and fatally shooting himself. | |
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. | |
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 prime minister, Andrej Babiš, told reporters it was an “individual act”. | |
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. | |
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.” | |
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. |