Watch: Gunman goes on a rampage in Prague university; 14 dead

Atleast 14 people were killed in a shooting rampage at Charles University in the Czech Republic on Thursday. The gunman, identified as a 24-year-old student in the same university, also died. 

Prague police chief Martin Vondrasek told reporters that 14 people had died and 25 were injured. The death toll rise as some of the injured are in a critical condition, warned authorities.

The gunman is said to have killed his father first in his family home in a village near the town of Kladno, outside of Prague. He is also said to have killed a man and a child a week ago. 

Authorities said the shooting began at around 15:00 local time in the corridors and lassrooms of the building. He began shooting at staff and students who struggled to use furniture to barricade themselves into rooms. 

A video showed the gunman on the balcony of the building randomly shooting at people below. Another footage doing rounds on social media showed people perching precariously on the exterior ledge of the building to save themselves. Gunshots could be also be heard in the video. 

Radek Simik, an associate professor in linguistics at Charles University, told The New York Times that he was in the middle of a lesson in his classroom on the first floor when he and his five students heard shouting coming from the corridor. "We thought it was a drunk guy or a rioter or something," he said. "As the sound got louder, he realized it was the authorities saying: "Police! Get out!" 

"The shooting continued when we were standing outside of the building," he said. He added that the police were seen carrying out the injured and others who appeared to be dead.

It is unclear whether the gunman shot himself of was killed in an exchange of gunfire with officers, Vondrasek said, adding that there was "nothing to suggest that he had an accomplice. 

The official added that the assailant "got inspired by a similar terrible event abroad" but declined to give details. He said he did not believe the gunman's actions were connected to international or domestic terrorism.

However, the NYT report added that police are investigating whether a  Telegram post under the name David Kozak was connected to the gunman. In a message, Kozak said he was inspired by the mass shootings  in Russia  — one this month at a school in Bryansk near the border with Ukraine and the second in 2021 in Kazan, capital of the Russian region of Tatarstan.

"I was very inspired by Alina … very much," the post on Dec. 10 said. He was refering to 14-year-old Russian girl Alina Afanaskina who opened fire on her classmates, killing two of them, with a pump shotgun in Bryansk. "She certainly did not kill enough. I will try to fix that."

President Petr Pavel expressed his "great sadness" and "helpless anger at the totally unnecessary" loss of life.