At least 8 dead in Czech restaurant shooting

World Today

Czech Republic ShootingPolice officers patrol near a restaurant where a gunman opened fire injuring at least one person in Uhersky Brod, in the east of the Czech Republic, Tuesday, Feb. 24, 2015. (AP Photo/CKT, Dalibor Gluck)

A man in the Czech Republic opened fire Tuesday in a restaurant, leaving at least eight people dead, the town’s mayor said.

Patrik Kuncar, mayor of the southeastern town of Uherske Brod, said the gunman, a local man around 60 years old, then killed himself. A waitress from the restaurant was also hospitalized, he said.

The town of 17,000 lies 185 miles (about 300 kilometers) southeast of Prague, the Czech capital, and is home to the Ceska Zbrojovka gun plant.

Interior Minister Milan Chovanec, who was also quoted by Czech media outlets as saying that eight people had been killed, was heading to the scene by helicopter. He planned to hold a news conference when he arrived.

“According to available information, it was not a terrorist attack,” Chovanec said in a tweet.

Report from The Associated Press