The perpetrator, a 42-year-old construction technician, was on the run for three hours after the incident before committing suicide. The victims of the shooting were four men and two women, all patients at the hospital, according to Czech media sources. Photo: Police CR / Twitter.
Ostrava, Czech Rep., Dec 10 (BD) – Early this morning a gunman, named in Czech media as Ctirad V, opened fire without warning in the waiting room at the University Hospital in Ostrava. Six people were killed, including four men and two women. Three other people were injured in the attack. All of those killed or injured were patients at the hospital, as was the perpetrator, who was a patient at the Department of Hemato-oncology.
The director of the hospital, Jiří Havrlant, confirmed that all patients at the hospital had been evacuated and were being looked after by emergency services. Staff at the hospital were also evacuated, and the polyclinic is now closed pending continuing police investigations.
Following the attack, the perpetrator fled the scene, and was a fugitive for three hours before shooting himself in the head, as confirmed in a police announcement at around 10:30am. The man, a 42-year-old construction technician, apparently had a grievance related to his own health condition, according to Aleš Zygula the head of the company where he worked: “He got it into his head that he was seriously ill and that no one wanted to treat him. He was going everywhere. He did not come to work for the whole of last month, he was off, and he came 14 days ago to say that he was on sick leave.”
According to Tomáš Kužel, head of the Moravian-Silesian Regional Police, the weapon used was a 9mm handgun that was not legally owned by the shooter. He added that the police are further investigating the motive behind the attack.
This morning’s incident was the second most fatal of its kind in the Czech Republic this century. Four years ago, on February 24, 2015, a 66-year-old man shot eight people dead at a restaurant in Uherský Brod, before also committing suicide.
Get the news first! Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. Top stories of the day in your mailbox every morning.
