Police said the culprits have already been identified in 30 of the cases. Credit: Freepik.
Prague, Dec 27 (CTK) – The Czech police wrote on Twitter today that they are investigating more than 60 cases related to last Thursday’s mass shooting at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University in Prague, including posts celebrating the atrocity on social media. They said the culprits have already been identified in 30 of the cases.
“In connection with the attack at the Faculty of Arts of Charles University, we are monitoring what is happening on social media in relation to the approval, adoration and copying of this horrific act,” the police wrote. “To date, we are dealing with more than 60 such cases in the country, and we already know the identity of specific individuals involved in 30 of them.”
South Moravian criminal investigators tracked down and detained the authors of several posts on social media during the Christmas holidays. One of them wrote that he was planning to shoot up an entertainment centre in Brno.
“He was detained there by security guards and transferred to police officers who were called in. He did not have a gun and told the officers he was not serious. Even so, he will probably be prosecuted for scaremongering,” said the police.
A youth from Brno announced similar intentions, and was then intercepted by the police at his home. He was also not in possession of a weapon. Police officers confiscated both men’s mobile phones as evidence.
Police in Blansko, South Moravia, are investigating the case of a 51-year-old woman who wrote a message on Tuesday evening indicating support for Thursday’s attack.
“Once again, we stress that such behaviour on social media is very problematic, and the authors of the posts face criminal prosecution,” said South Moravian police spokesman Pavel Svab.
A lone gunman shot 13 people dead in the Faculty of Arts building on Jan Palach Square in the centre of Prague on Thursday, and a 14th victim died later in hospital. The perpetrator also died at the scene. Another 25 people were injured, some very seriously. Police say the school shooting was carried out by a 24-year-old faculty student from central Bohemia, who they have also linked, based on ballistic tests, to the 15 December murder of a man and his two-month-old daughter in the Klanovice forest on the outskirts of Prague.
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