A gunman killed six people on Tuesday (December 10) at a hospital waiting room in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava before fleeing and fatally shooting himself in the head, police said. It was unclear what motivated the Czech Republic's worst attack since 2015 when a man shot eight people dead and then killed himself at a restaurant in the city of Uhersky Brod. "We have captured the shooting assailant. The 42-year-old man had shot himself in the head before police took action, he is dead," police said on Twitter. Police received calls about a shooting at 7:19 a.m. (0619 GMT) at the University Hospital in Ostrava, 350 km (217 miles) east of the capital Prague and near the border with Poland. Officers were on the scene five minutes later. The attack happened in the waiting room of the outpatient clinic and victims had been shot at close range, he said. They were all adults: four men and two women. DIRECTOR OF EMERGENCY UNIT, ROMAN GREGOR, SAYING: "This is, unfortunately, an incident that has been drilled, it is called active shooting. We only did what we have had drilled for years. Such situations are fully under the leadership of the police, above all, because the safety of the personnel is the priority in the event like this because a dead emergency responder cannot help those affected or injured. In several minutes, all (ed's note: emergency units) were here: the police, ambulances, firefighters, and when it was possible, three our teams meaning six people went along with the rapid response unit to the site of the shooting on the third floor where they saw four people dead on the spot immediately after the shooting." LOCAL RESIDENT AND EYEWITNESS, IWONA MARUSIKOVA, SAYING: "I work in the blood unit here. It was horrible, I am still in shock, it is a sad event. One cannot even talk about it, comment on it, it is awful. JOURNALIST ASKING (Polish): Do you live here? "I work here, I was called to come in to help watch over the place." Czech PM Babis visits scene of deadly hospital attack CZECH PRIME MINISTER, ANDREJ BABIS, SAYING: "I met with the crisis committee to discuss how the investigation is proceeding and the outcome of our meeting with the interior minister, the regional governor and the mayor, is that we have agreed that we will contribute the sum of 300,000 (Czech crowns) to the relatives (of those killed) and the government will decide at its next meeting on December 16 as to how we will pay our respects to the victims on December 17. It will be pretty similar to the time of the Uhersky Brod incident (2015 incident where a gunman killed eight in a restaurant)." The relatives will be offered help from psychiatrists, and of course, identification (of the victims) is continuing as some victims have not yet been identified. As soon as we have all of the information, then if they (family members) are interested, this (help from psychiatrists) will happen." "At that time (in 2015 after the Uhersky Brod incident) we decided, I have the resolution here, that best country-wide and most symbolic way to pay our respects (to the victims) would be by sounding sirens for 2 minutes and 20 seconds. You can expect something like this to happen on December 17 from 1200 (1100 GMT). We still have to finalise it, and it is dependent on money as well, here at the regional level and the city and the cabinet, but it (the way of paying tribute to the victims) will be the same as in Uhersky Brod Candles lit outside Czech hospital after deadly shooting
9 дек 2019
