The gunman who killed 14 people at a university in Prague confessed to an earlier double murder in his suicide note, Czech police have said.
The note found in David Kozak’s home contained a confession he had shot dead a man and his baby daughter in woods near the city on 15 December, six days before the Charles University attack.
Police said he had been on a list of 4,000 suspects for their murders. Kozak also killed his father, bringing the total number of his victims to 17. The attack at the university on December 21 is the worst mass shooting in Czech history.
Kozak, a 24-year-old masters history student at the university, killed himself after being surrounded by armed police.
As first reported in the newspaper Denik N, the note was discovered by police in Kozak’s home on 21 December – the same day as the attack.
It contained a confession he had shot dead the pair in Klanovice woods on the eastern outskirts of the capital a week previously.
The victims are reported to be a 32-year-old man and a two-month-old girl, according to Czech media.
Detectives had said it was “highly probable” that the gunman had also carried out the Klanovice killings. This was later confirmed by ballistics.
They said Kozak had been on a long list of potential suspects whom they wanted to interview and expressed regret they had been unable to get to him earlier.
Last week’s attack at the university centred on the Faculty of Arts building on Jan Palach Square, where Kozak was seen opening fire with a rifle from the rooftop.
University staff and students were told to barricade themselves in during the attack.
Thirteen people died at the university, while a fourteenth victim died from their injuries in hospital. A further 25 people were wounded, police said.
Police have not released the possible motive for the killings, saying the investigation is ongoing.
Czech Interior Minister Vit Rakusan has called on the mayors of all towns and villages to cancel New Year’s fireworks displays in light of the massacre.
On social media, he called on all Czechs to mark the event in a peaceful fashion, saying it was the least the nation could do for those traumatised by the killings.
