Czechs, led by Prime Minister Petr Fiala, gathered on Friday at the headquarters of Karolinska University, where David Kozak killed 14 people on Thursday, to commemorate the victims of the country’s worst mass shooting during this time. Police have stepped up security around schools and other public buildings across the country, Reuters reports.

At the headquarters of Karolinska University in Prague, a growing crowd, including Prime Minister Petr Fiala and US Ambassador Bijan Sabet, paid tribute to the victims. Someone knelt down and lit candles or laid flowers, while someone cried and hugged.

“We are here to show our support as students,” said Czech student Daniel Broz.

“I was on the other side of the river and I heard shots, sounds, and I didn’t know what was happening, and then a flurry of police cars passing by, it was absolutely surreal, especially for a Czech who had never witnessed such an event.” – he added.

The University of Carolina canceled all lectures and events on Friday, a day after the attack in the central European country of 10.9 million people, where more than 300,000 people own guns but mass attacks are rare.

The Ministry of Health reported that 27 people were hospitalized or treated at six hospitals in Prague, many of them injured by a Cossack gun. Of these, 12 are in serious condition and at least one is in critical condition.

Authorities also began releasing more details about the attack and the events leading up to the gun attack. They said the 24-year-old arts student, where he carried out the attack, likely shot himself after police cornered him on a balcony and the suspect threw away his automatic weapon. According to the police, he had several weapons with him.

“He was left with a rifle that has no range, and when we got to the balcony, he decided to take his own life,” Petr Matejček, director of the Prague regional police, told a news conference broadcast live on public television.

The police released a video recorded by body cameras, which shows how special police units storm the university building, search corridors and rooms and provide first aid to the victims. The video also shows police on the roof carrying what appears to be a body, and later people leave the building with their hands raised above their heads.

Police said they were looking into a possible link between the young gunman and a social media account that referred to a mass attack in Russia, but said Friday it was unclear whether the link was genuine.

Increased security measures at events and in buildings throughout the Czech Republic

Police stepped up security at events and buildings across the country on Friday.

“Beginning today, we have implemented a nationwide preventive measure against vulnerable targets and schools,” police said on social network X, formerly known as Twitter.

“We have no information about any specific threat … this is a signal that we are here and ready.”

The police suspect Davyd Kozak of committing crimes before the attack

Police suspect David Kozak of shooting dead a young father and his two-month-old daughter in a forest near a village near Prague last week in a random attack.

“The signs point to that, and we are waiting for the results of the ballistics tests,” said the Prague police chief.

The man had a gun license and no criminal record, police said Thursday.

The government declared Saturday a national day of mourning.

Police said the suspect killed his father at his home outside Prague before traveling to the Czech capital, Reuters reported.

The law enforcement officers had information that he was going to kill himself, and were looking for him in another building of the university where he was going to study. According to the Czech media, it was the student’s mother who informed the authorities about suicidal thoughts.

But the attacker instead went to the main building of the Faculty of Arts, located on a busy square, across the river from Prague Castle and just a few hundred meters from Old Town Square, one of Europe’s top tourist attractions.

Read also:

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• Prague massacre. Last chilling messages from a Czech student before he killed at least 14 people
• All victims of the Prague massacre have been identified. The police knew that the student killer wanted to take his own life