Man opens fire in restaurant in town of Uherský Brod, killing eight people before turning gun on himself

A man who complained that he had been bullied and would take revenge opened fire on diners at a pub in a sleepy Czech town, killing eight people before apparently turning the gun on himself.

The man burst into the Družba (Best Man) pub in Uherský Brod, southern Moravia, at lunchtime on Tuesday brandishing two weapons and fired at random into the open-plan dining area. One witness described it as “mindless shooting”.

A witness who was in the toilet at the time said about 20 people had been in the pub. Several were wounded and are being treated in hospital, including a woman believed to be in a critical condition.

The town’s mayor, Patrick Kunčar, said the gunman was a local with no criminal history. He described the 62-year-old man as “a crazy individual” and sought to reassure locals that the incident was an isolated one.

“I’m shaken to the core by this incident. I could not have dreamed something like this could happen here, in a restaurant that I’m so familiar with,” the mayor said.

It was revealed that the shooter had made a phone call to the crime news line of a TV station shortly before the attack, telling them he had been bullied and would now take matters into his own hands.

“The phone call lasted around four minutes before he hung up,” said Pavel Lebduska, the Prima reporter who took the call. “He introduced himself [and] told me to send a crew to Uherský Brod. He told me that he was going to hurt a lot of people, that he had been bullied and that the authorities didn’t want to help him, therefore he was taking things into his own hands. He said he has a pistol and hostages, and would do things his own way.”

Lebduska said the man had spoken in a calm voice, pausing repeatedly.

The Czech interior minister, Milan Chovanec, was on his way to the scene. The prime minister, Bohuslav Sobotka, told local media he was shocked by the incident.

The Czech Republic has tight gun controls, although hunting is a popular pastime and many people have relatively easy access to shotguns.