Updated: Six dead in gun rampage at Czech hospital

This handout image published by the Czech police on their twitter account on December 10, 2019 shows policemen standing in front of the Faculty Hospital in Ostrava, eastern Czech Republic, where a gunman opened fire, killing six people. (Photo by HO / Czech Police / AFP)

 

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) — A gunman opened fire Tuesday in a hospital in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, killing six people, the prime minister said.

“There were four dead and two injured people who unfortunately died too,” Prime Minister Andrej Babis told the public Czech Television.

The gunman is still at large, police said.

Police have published a picture of the alleged suspect on Twitter, showing a man with receding ginger hair and wearing a red jacket.

Czech TV reported that he was about 180 centimetres (5.9 feet) tall.

“I can confirm a shooting at the Ostrava Faculty Hospital after 7:00 am (0600 GMT) today,” Interior Minister Jan Hamacek tweeted.

The DNES daily reported on its website that the shooting had occurred at the trauma ward of the hospital in Ostrava, a steel hub located around 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Prague.

 

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