As the darkness lifted in Prague on Friday, bright lights were still burning inside the Arts Faculty as they had through the night. The police cordon has now gone but the Charles University building is still a major crime scene.

The body of the 14th victim of the worst mass shooting in Czech history was only removed this morning.

Across town, at the gates of another university building, a shrine has been growing in memory of the 14 staff and students who were killed. People have been leaving small candles on the cobblestones in red glass holders and laying flowers.

The crowd huddled round in the sleet is mainly young, including many university and school students.

Lucy had brought a big bunch of white roses. "It's the least we can do," she said. She was at the law faculty when the shooting began, just a couple of hundred metres away.

"They locked up and told us not to leave. There were lots of emergency cars and police. We didn't really know what was going on," she said.

"Now all we are talking about is that it could have been anybody. It could have been my friends. Anyone could have been a victim and that's horrifying."

Simon's friend is a medic who was on duty on Thursday. "He said it was quite brutal. It was a big-calibre gun so the injuries were pretty bad," he told me. "And it could have been our faculty. So it's pretty stressful."

One video filmed at the scene shows the gunman, a 24-year old history student, on the roof of the Arts Faculty firing shots into the street. Behind the camera, someone is yelling to shoot at him - not the students.

Other images have shown students clinging to the outside of the university wall, perched on a ledge high above ground as the gunman dressed all in black prowls above them, just metres away.

Information about the man and his motives is limited. We know from police that he had killed his own father that morning. Police are also now linking him to a murder in a forest outside Prague a few days ago, when a man and a two-month-old baby were shot and killed.

But at the shrine, no-one wanted to talk about the shooter.

"He doesn't deserve it," Natalie told me. She was there to offer help to those struggling to cope and was clearly shaken herself. "It's very upsetting. I still can't really process that it really happened. It's very sad. I am scared."

Police have asked for the shooter not to be named, assuming he was seeking notoriety with his deadly attack.

The interior ministry has been defending the actions of the police, after it emerged that they had information that an armed man was heading into the city centre and planning to kill himself, having murdered his father.

He was scheduled to attend a lecture so officers rushed to evacuate the building. As they did, the gunman opened fire at a different faculty up the road.

Police later said the gunman had a "huge arsenal" of guns and ammunition. It's not clear how he accumulated so much firepower, although as far as we understand he did have a licence.

Students at the shrine didn't blame police that so many were killed and injured. They thought they'd done everything possible, in horrific circumstances.

But like many, Natalie said she had begun thinking that universities needed better protection.

"We used to feel safe. Now we see all the holes in security and what needs improving. We don't like to be more restricted, but I guess it's a new age. Unfortunately we will have to improve."

As we spoke, a guide in a headset approached with a group of foreign tourists and began explaining what had happened.

Christmas is one of the busiest times of year in Prague, and the beautiful streets and markets are still bustling with visitors.

"Don't worry, it's all over. The killer is dead. This is a safe city," the guide called Jan told his audience.

But today, for the first time, that's not how it feels for many here.

Source:
courtesy of BBC NEWS

by Sarah Rainsford | BBC Eastern Europe correspondent in Prague

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