Prague police have detained a secondary school teacher who allegedly sparked a massive armed response on Friday by reporting a fake shooting at his own school to “test” the cops.
The alarm went off Friday afternoon at a school on Roháčova Street in the city’s third district. Within minutes, dozens of officers, many heavily armed, swarmed the building under the assumption that an active shooter was on the premises.
The chaos ended when the caller’s motive came to light.
“Police found that the report was made by a teacher at the school who wanted to test the police response to a report of gunfire,” the Czech Police announced. Instead of receiving a performance review, the teacher was arrested on the spot.
He is now under investigation for spreading a false alarm. In the Czech Republic, this isn’t just a prank—it’s a criminal offense that can lead to years in prison, especially when it involves wasting the resources of specialized emergency units.
The incident has caused particular outrage given the local context. Prague is still healing from the December 2023 mass shooting at Charles University, an event that put the entire country on edge and forced a massive overhaul of how schools and police handle threats.
While the officers proved they could show up in force and on time, the teacher’s decision to play games with public trauma has left the community stunned. Detectives are still at the school, wrapping up interviews with students and staff who spent their afternoon in a very real, and very unnecessary, state of terror.
Leave a Reply