Patients and staff evacuated from the hospital by the emergency services
OSTRAVA (Czech Republic), Dec 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A gunman has killed six people in a hospital waiting room in the Czech city of Ostrava before shooting himself in the head, police say.
Armed police found the suspect dead from a self-inflicted gunshot in a vehicle three hours later.
The gunman was believed to be a patient at the hospital, one unconfirmed report said. His motive remains unclear.
Officers said they were called to the hospital in the north-eastern city at 07:19 (06:19 GMT).
The shooting took place in a matter of moments at Ostrava university hospital’s trauma clinic. Hospital director Jiri Havrlant told Czech TV the gunman opened fire without warning, hitting nine patients.
Four men and two women were killed and three other people were wounded, two seriously. All of the victims were patients at the hospital.
The hospital was initially locked down.
The suspect had used a handgun and had driven off in a silver Renault Laguna car, according to police. They said they had established the 42-year-old man’s name, had photographs of him and had obtained his vehicle licence plate number.
Police said that once they had obtained pictures of the suspect from security cameras they launched two helicopters to search for him. When one of the helicopters was flying over the car some 5km north of the hospital, the man shot himself in the head and later died of his injuries.
The gun used in the attack was described as a 9mm Czech-made handgun, which the suspect did not have a licence for.
Colleagues of the suspected gunman told Czech media that he had recently gone on sick leave, declaring he was seriously ill. He was said to be a construction engineer who had been treated at the hospital’s haemato-oncology department.
Prime Minister Andrej Babis confirmed that six people had been killed and that the shootings occurred at close range. He cancelled a foreign trip and was preparing to travel to Ostrava, reports said.
The governor of the Moravian-Silesian Region, Ivo Vondrak, said the shooting was “a great tragedy”.
Gun attacks in the Czech Republic are rare, although gun ownership is relatively high for Europe because of the popularity of hunting. — NNN-AGENCIES
