Czech shooting: Gunman kills six at hospital in Ostrava

In the Czech city of Ostrava, a gunman killed six people in a hospital waiting room before shooting himself in the head.

The police found the suspect dead from a self-inflicted gunshot in a vehicle three hours later.

The gunman was believed to be a patient at the hospital, one unconfirmed report said. His motive remains unclear.

Officers said they were called to the hospital in the north-eastern city at 07:19 (06:19 GMT).

The shooting took place in a matter of moments at Ostrava university hospital’s trauma clinic. Hospital director Jiri Havrlant told Czech TV the gunman opened fire without warning, hitting nine patients.

Four men and two women were killed, and three other people were wounded, two seriously. All of the victims were patients at the hospital.

The hospital was initially locked down.

A doctor inside the hospital told the Aktualne website that staff had been locked in a hallway waiting for the emergency to end.

Police earlier asked for help in their search for the gunman, but warned people not to approach him, adding that the site in the Moravian-Silesian region had been “secured”.