A 24-year-old Czech student shot dead his father then killed 14 people and wounded 25 others at his Prague university before possibly killing himself, police said, marking the country's worst-ever mass shooting.
The gunman is also suspected in the killings of another man and his two-month-old daughter who were found last week shot dead in woods in a village outside Prague, the city's police chief Martin Vondrasek said.
Authorities, who discovered a large arsenal of weapons at a downtown Prague Charles University building, were tipped off earlier in the day the man was likely heading to Prague from his town in the Kladno region outside the capital with intentions of taking his own life.
Shortly after that, the shooter's father was found dead.
Czech police responded to the shooting at Charles University's faculty of arts building in Jan Palach Square shortly after 3pm (2pm Irish time).
Police evacuated the building where the shooter was due to attend a lecture, but then were called to the faculty's larger main building, arriving within minutes after reports of the shooting, Mr Vondrasek said.
Of the 25 confirmed injured, ten of them are in a serious condition, Mr Vondrasek told reporters.
Police had earlier said more than 15 people were killed in the shooting in central Prague, including the gunman who was a student at the school.
It was not clear whether the most recent police update included the shooter.
Police said he was a high-achieving student with no prior criminal record, and that he acted alone.
Authorities sealed off the square and area adjacent to the faculty building, in a busy historical district down the hill from Prague Castle on a popular street leading to Old Town Square.
Media images showed students evacuating the building with their hands in the air, and others perched on a ledge near the roof trying to hide from the attacker while students barricaded classrooms with desks and chairs.
"We always thought that this was a thing that did not concern us. Now it turns out that, unfortunately, our world is also changing and the problem of the individual shooter is emerging here as well," Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda told Czech Television.
Petr Nedoma, director of the Rudolfinum Gallery at a concert hall across Palach Square, told Czech TV he saw the gunman.
"I saw a young person on the gallery who had some weapon in his hand, like and automatic weapon, and shooting toward the Manes Bridge.
"Repeatedly, with some interruptions, then I saw as he shot, put hands up and threw the weapon down on the street, it lay there on the pedestrian crossing," he said.
Police sealed off the square and the area adjacent to the building, located in a busy part of the city with a popular street leading tourists to Old Town Square.
One witness told news website iDnes.cz that they got off at the tram stop by the school and "suddenly I heard shooting".
Klara, a student, told the news website she was among those who police evacuated from the building.
"It was terribly scary, there were a lot of policemen everywhere, who were shouting at us with sub-machine guns, telling us to run outside," she said.
An email sent to staff and students had said the gunman was in one of the buildings.
"Don't go anywhere, if you're in the offices, lock them and place furniture in front of the door, turn off the lights," the email said.
One X user posted a photo of a group of students, hiding crouched on a ledge of the building.
Prime Minister Petr Fiala cancelled his trip to the east of the country and was en route to Prague, he said on X.
Gun crime is relatively rare in the Czech Republic. In December 2019, a 42-year-old gunman killed six people at a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava before fleeing and fatally shooting himself, police said.
In 2015, a man fatally shot eight people and then killed himself at a restaurant in Uhersky Brod.
'We stand and mourn with you'
The White House condemned the shooting and said the UnitedStates was ready to offer assistance.
Leaders across Europe including France's Emmanuel Macron offered their support.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: "Shocked by the senseless violence of the shooting that claimed several lives today in Prague.
"I express my deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the Czech people as a whole.
"We stand and mourn with you."
A newlywed British couple have told of the moment a police officer ordered them to stay down during a mass shooting in central Prague.
Tom Leese, 34, a video producer and his wife Rachael, 31, an account director, who are on their honeymoon in the country, were having a drink in the Slivovitz Museum, close to where the shooting occurred.
Mr Leese said: "A policeman came in and started shouting loudly in what I assume was Czech.
"I asked for it in English and he said there was an active shooter and to stay inside and stay down.
"The staff were very calm, turned all the lights off very quickly and urged us to stay calm, the restaurant was relatively quiet.
"The policeman left urgently and we stood in the corner of the restaurant."
The couple, from Merstham in Surrey, were kept in the the museum for over an hour, hearing sirens outside.
Mr Leese added: "Rachael is still in shock.
"We were meant to be having dinner at the restaurant right by the building tonight and were going to pop in for a drink earlier on, but we crossed the bridge instead. "With everyone else being so calm it didn't seem real to me.
"We've been in touch with all of our families to let them know that we're safe. We obviously can't wait to get home now."
