VIDEO: Emirati couple injured in Prague university shooting
A policeman guards the area outside the building of Philosophical Faculty of Charles University Prague. AP
Ahmed Ibrahim Al Najjar, Director-General of Umm Al Quwain Municipality, and his wife, Rowdah Al Mehrizi, were injured at a Prague university shooting on Thursday in the Czech Republic's worst shooting in decades.
The authorities said, “The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following up on the health status of the Emirati citizen and his wife who were injured in the Czech Republic following the shooting incident that occurred yesterday in the capital, Prague, stressing its keenness to provide full support and health care to the injured in coordination with the Czech authorities and with the presence of a team from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
Authorities said that foreign nationals were among at least 14 killed after a student opened fire at a university in Prague.
More than 20 others were also wounded in one of the Czech Republic’s worst mass shootings.
The bloodshed took place on Thursday in the philosophy department building of Charles University, where the shooter was a student, Prague Police Chief Martin Vondrasek said. The gunman also died, authorities said. His name has not been released.
Vondrasek said in the evening that 14 people had died and 25 were wounded, after earlier reporting that 15 had died and 24 were hurt. He didn’t explain the change. Authorities warned that the death toll could rise.
Police gave no details about the victims or a possible motive for the shooting at the building located near the Vltava River in Jan Palach Square.
Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan said investigators do not suspect a link to any extremist ideology or groups.
Vondrasek said police believe the gunman killed his father earlier Thursday in his hometown of Hostoun, just west of Prague, and that he had also been planning to kill himself. He didn’t elaborate.
Later Thursday, Vondrasek said that based on a search of his home, the gunman was also suspected in the killing of another man and his 2-month-old daughter Dec. 15, in Prague.
