Who is David Kozak, suspect in the Prague shooting (and how it all happened)

David Kozak, 24, was identified as the perpetrator of the shooting that killed at least 14 people and injured more than 20, at Charles University, in Prague, Czech Republic. According to the local press, the young man studied at the educational establishment and, before the crime, he killed his father.

Here’s everything we know about the shooter so far:

The daily MF DNES reveals that police in the Central Bohemia region began searching for David Kozak after the body of a man was found in the village of Hostouni, on the outskirts of Kladno, about 30 kilometers from Prague.

“A man who died a violent death was found in Hostouni in the afternoon. In connection with this, we began a search for another man, born in 1999, who is suspected of this violent activity”police officers told the daily newspaper, adding that the victim was the suspect’s father.

David Kozak, who was the legal owner of several weapons, left his father’s body at home and went to the Faculty of Arts, where a lecture was taking place.

At a press conference, the police chief, Martin Vondrášek, stated that the authorities were aware that a 24-year-old young man, a History student at Charles University, left for Prague saying he wanted to end his own life.

As authorities ordered the evacuation of the Faculty of Arts at 2pm (1pm in Lisbon), but the shooting ended up taking place at the Faculty of Philosophywith the first alert being given at 2:59 pm (1:59 pm in Lisbon), according to public station CT24.

According to Vondrášek, David Kozak was “inspired by a similar terrible event” that occurred abroad and, for now, there is no indication that the crime “has any relation to international terrorism”. The motivations are also not yet known.

David Kozak was found dead at 3:20 pm, approximately 20 minutes after the first alert to the authorities. The police suspected that he ended his own lifebut there is still no certainty about the cause of death, as there was an exchange of gunfire between the suspect and the intervention police teams.

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If you are suffering from a mental illness, have self-destructive thoughts or simply need to talk to someone, you should consult a psychiatrist, psychologist or general practitioner. You can also contact one of these entities:

SOS Voz Amiga (between 4pm and midnight) – 213 544 545 (Free number) – 912 802 669 – 963 524 660

Conversa Amiga (between 3pm and 10pm) – 808 237 327 (Free number) and 210 027 159

SOS Student (between 8pm and 1am) – 239 484 020 – 915246060 – 969554545

Telephone da Esperança (between 8pm and 11pm) – 222 080 707

Friendship Telephone (between 4pm and 11pm) – 228 323 535

All these contacts guarantee anonymity to both the caller and the person answering. On SNS24 (808 24 24 24 – then you must select option 4), contact is handled by health professionals. The SNS24 line operates 24 hours a day.

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