Rapid Increase of Shootings in Europe, Reveals Survivor of Prague Terror Attack
Jakob Weizman, a Danish student at Charles University in Prague, experienced sheer terror during his exam as gunshots and screams shattered the peaceful atmosphere
While taking an exam at Charles University in Prague, Danish student Jakob Weizman was startled by the sound of gunshots and screams on a Thursday. Shocked, he never expected a school shooting to occur so close to him in Europe.
"After living in the US for an extended period, he expressed to CNN that if something like this were to occur anywhere, it would be in the US. He also mentioned the alarming spread of similar events in Europe, citing recent shootings in Denmark, Serbia, and now here. The situation is incredibly frightening, you know?"
Weizman and his professor secured the door of their exam room with chairs and tables, remaining inside until police arrived to escort them out of the building.
The shooter took the lives of at least 14 individuals and injured 25 others in what has been labeled as the Czech Republic's deadliest mass shooting in years. Authorities disclosed that the 24-year-old gunman was a student at the university's Faculty of Arts, but has not been formally identified due to the seriousness of his injuries. His identity remains undisclosed.
Authorities are still investigating a motive.
Weizman said as an international student, he had different study circles than local Czech students and therefore did not know the shooter.
Weizman told CNN he and his professor barricaded a classroom door after they heard what sounded like gunshots and screams.
Jakob Weizman
The Czech Republic is just the latest in a string of European countries to suffer a mass shooting of the kind that has become ubiquitous in the United States.
In June 2022, a shooter took the lives of three individuals and injured numerous others at a shopping mall in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark. Despite the tragic incident, gun violence is uncommon in Denmark due to its strict gun control laws.
Similarly, Serbia was rocked by two separate mass shootings within a 48-hour period in May of this year. A 13-year-old boy tragically ended the lives of at least eight children and a security guard at his school in Belgrade. Shortly after, a 21-year-old gunman armed with an automatic weapon killed eight individuals in the village of Dubona.
Gun ownership is prevalent in Serbia, but the type of mass shootings that occur on a regular basis in the US are extremely uncommon in the Balkan country. Until May, school shootings in Serbia were virtually unheard of.
Students of Charles University are evacuated by police after a shooting on December 21, 2023 in Prague, Czech Republic.
Gabriel Kuchta/Getty Images
The Prague gunman involved in Thursday's shooting was found to have a gun permit and possession of multiple weapons, as reported by Czech Police President Martin Vondrášek.
In comparison to other European Union countries, the Czech Republic has more permissive gun laws. The legal acquisition of a firearm entails obtaining an official license, which involves a medical assessment, a weapons proficiency test, and a clean criminal record.
Official police statistics show that there are over 300,000 individuals with legal permits to own a firearm in the Czech Republic, with nearly 1 million legally registered firearms as of 2022. According to the Small Arms Survey (SAS) based in Switzerland, there are 120 guns for every 100 Americans, making the Czech Republic the nation with the highest ratio of civilian guns to people.
642 mass shootings have occurred in the US this year, with over 80 of them taking place at schools and universities, according to CNN analysis of the Gun Violence Archive. Additionally, more than 42 million Americans, which is over one-eighth of the US population, are estimated to have lived within a mile of a mass shooting since 2014 according to a CNN analysis of data from the Gun Violence Archive and US Census Bureau.
