Czech hospital shooting: Six dead in country’s deadliest gun attack since 2015, authorities say

Man in fleeing vehicle takes own life as officers close in, say police

Six people have been killed and two more injured in a shooting at a hospital in the Czech Republic, police and the country’s health minister have said.

The attack took place in the city of Ostrava at about 7.19am local time.

Police said on Twitter that after a manhunt they had tracked down a silver Renault car containing the suspected shooter.

The gunman, aged 42, took his own life before officers arrived, they added.

Investigators published a photo of the suspect, having withdrawn an earlier photo of a different man wearing similar clothes. They said that man was now considered to be a witness.

Officers had arrived at the hospital five minutes after the first reports of gunfire, police said.

Andrej Babis, the prime minister, told Czech public television the shooting had taken place in a waiting room.

The unexplained attack is the worst shooting in the country since eight people were killed at a restaurant in Uhersky Brod in 2015.

Police bolstered security at “selected soft targets” around the country in response to the shooting.

Ostrava, in the northeast of the Czech Republic near the border with Poland, has a population of about 290,000.