Plaintiff: Perpetrators of school shootings feel aggrieved, resentful and hateful

The prosecutor reiterated that according to psychological and psychiatric evaluations, the young man did not suffer from any serious mental disorder and was not a victim of domestic or other violence, but was obsessed with it. He did not take drugs or alcohol.

According to Mulin, the expert report showed that the student wanted revenge because he did not have enough interpersonal communication, was not recognized, and was isolated in society. “He could not solve all these problems in any way. No one could solve them with him,” Murinova declared. According to prosecutors, things had escalated. Hatred had sprouted in his heart and combined with a fascination with violence and a love of weapons. His moral values ​​had collapsed. His emotions reached the point of killing, and as early as November 2023 he planned the shooting at the Faculty of Philosophy.

According to police, the student had not even had a conflict with his father before he murdered him. Homicide chief Strache said the motive was just general resentment.

On Thursday, in addition to Murinova and police officers including Police Chief Martin Vondrasek and Prague Police Chief Peter Matejcek, the Security Council discussed the investigation into the shooting at the academy. The attack, which killed 14 people and injured 25, was postponed by police a few days ago. One of the students who opened fire on the school committed suicide after the attack. The case will still be reviewed by the prosecutor’s office.

Murinova said the investigation could take several months to be legally concluded. So far, the police have issued a decision to postpone the case to 78 victims, but there are still 7 in the Czech Republic and 2 abroad who need to be notified. Everyone has the right to file a complaint, which will be evaluated by the prosecutor’s office.

Police had no information the gunman intended to kill

Prague Police Chief Peter Matejček defended the police’s actions before deputies on Thursday. At the Security Council meeting, he said, among other things, that the police had no information before their intervention that the gunman wanted to kill people, only that he wanted to commit suicide. He also explained why the police focused on the faculty building on Čeletna Street, while the killer carried out the murders in the building on Parahov Street.

“During the entire period before the intervention, there were no signs that the perpetrator wanted to commit mass murders or carry out certain acts,” Matejcek said. According to him, by gradually obtaining more information, the police discovered that “this person could be dangerous and could have serious psychological problems.” “Therefore, we deployed additional forces and resources,” said the Prague police chief.

According to Mateček, the perpetrators arrived at the faculty building in Palachová náměstí a minute before the two three-man patrols arrived. According to him, they should have first checked whether the later gunman was a student and whether anyone had seen him there, and then they passed through the ground floor. According to the police chief, the camera system was not working.

According to Matejcek, in the learning department, the police received information that the subsequent offender was a student who was about to attend a class on Celetna Street. “It is standard police procedure to follow hot leads,” he explained, explaining why the police then focused their attention on this building. “What was frustrating for us was that he was within our reach,” he said of the situation inside the Palach Square building. According to him, the police did not know that the perpetrator was already inside.

According to Matejcek, the perpetrator was on the fourth floor at the time of the crime, and he could see and hear any noise. However, it is not clear from his words where it should be, since the fourth floor is not connected to the lower floors by the main central staircase, from which it is possible to monitor events and noise on the remaining floors of the building. According to him, it would have been difficult to evacuate the faculty, which had a total of 700 people. “Anything could have happened,” he stressed. “Let’s take a look at the information the police had at the time and what they have now,” he said.

Victim’s mother calls on Austrians to resign

Public representatives also joined the discussion, and the mother of one of the victims accused Interior Minister Vito Rakušan and some of the police officers present of a lack of empathy and self-reflection and demanded their resignation. According to her, Matějček lied when he claimed that the information was about a person who went to Prague to commit suicide. According to her, he knew that she was a dangerous person. She also accused the police of not warning the faculty management. “If all this had been done, my daughter would be here,” she said. According to the woman, Vondrášek, Rakušan and Matějček failed miserably, and they knew it, but they didn’t know how to face it.

The Austrian responded by saying that anyone who had not experienced it personally could not understand the gravity of a personal tragedy. “Now, as a minister, I can only try to ensure that such tragedies do not happen again so that we are prepared,” he said. Matejcek said the police had acted with the utmost knowledge and conscience. “I certainly feel your pain and I will certainly reflect on myself,” he added.

Police chief Martin Vondrášek admitted to the committee that communication with the philosophy department’s management was not ideal. For example, the police wanted to improve their analytical capabilities and were planning shooting training. Vondrášek also pointed out that it was necessary to distinguish between what the police knew on December 21 and what they knew after half a year of investigation.