Police in the Czech Republic were alerted at 15 p.m. on Thursday about an ongoing shooting at a university at Jan Palach Square. According to the Czech Civil Protection Service, eleven people have died and several have been injured, nine of them seriously. One of the dead is the suspected shooter, Reuters writes, citing the emergency services.
Shortly before 16 p.m. on Thursday, Czech police stated that the perpetrator has been "eliminated" and that the building is being evacuated. The perpetrator is, according to the country's Interior Minister White Rakušan, is dead, writes the Czech newspaper Blesk. Rakušan also says that the perpetrator most likely acted alone.
Students were asked to barricade themselves
According to information provided to Blesk, students and employees at the university were asked to lock themselves in and turn off the lights before the building could be evacuated. At 17 p.m., the police write that the evacuation is still ongoing as students barricaded themselves in classrooms and offices.
Residents in the vicinity were urged to stay indoors during the ongoing police operation, and other people to stay away from the area.
von der Leyen: 'Shocked'
EU President Ursula von der Leyen writes in a post on X that she is "shocked by the senseless violence".
She also writes that her thoughts are with the families of the victims and the entire Czech people.
The text will be updated.