Italian PM Giorgia Meloni expressed her condolences yesterday over the Prague shooting at Charles University. No Italians were among the dead or injured.
Premier Giorgia Meloni has sent a message to her Czech counterpart Petr Fiala expressing her deepest condolences to the families of the victims of Thursday’s shooting at the Charles University in Prague.
In the message Meloni also reportedly expressed “her closeness to the wounded and to the entire population of the Czech Republic”.
In addition, she “reiterates her strongest condemnation of all forms of violence, fanaticism and terrorism, emphasising that Europe has a duty to react and strengthen every instrument useful to guarantee the maximum security of its citizens”.
No Italians were involved in Thursday’s shooting at Prague University, in which a student shot dead 14 people and injured 25. The killer shot themselves dead when realising they were surrounded by armed police.
The ministry said three foreigners are among the injured, two people from the United Arab Emirates and a Dutch student.
What happened in Prague?
A student at Prague’s Charles University shot and killed 14 people and injured 25 others, 10 of them seriously, before being found dead. It is believed to be the worst mass shooting in the Czech Republic’s modern history. The Prague authorities have said the attack was not a politically motivated act of terrorism.
The city’s police chief, Martin Vondrášek, told a press briefing on Thursday evening that the death toll may rise further. He added the shooting had been “a premeditated violent attack”, apparently inspired by similar massacres abroad.
Vondrášek said the body of the student’s fathers was found at his home at 12.40pm. Police established that the student was supposed to be attending a 2pm lecture at the university. A search of the main arts faculty building was ordered immediately. However, the suspect went to another building, where he opened fire.
First reports of the shooting were received at 2.59pm. Shortly afterwards, the police responded to a shooting at Jan Palach Square, in central Prague. It took less than an hour for the killer to have murdered 14 others, before turning the gun on themselves.
At 3.20pm, Vondrášek said, he had received information that the shooter’s body was lying on a ledge of the building.
