Police said that once they had obtained pictures of the suspect from security cameras they launched two helicopters to search for him. When one of the helicopters was flying over the car some 5km (3 miles) north of the hospital, the man shot himself in the head and later died of his injuries. The gun used in the attack was described as a 9mm Czech-made handgun, which the suspect did not have a licence for. The man described by police as the gunman was shown wearing a red jacket Police initially posted an image of a man they said they needed to trace and said later he was the man behind the shooting, but they later removed the picture from their social media feed after he was found. Patrols were stepped up at what police described as soft targets, such as schools, shopping centres and other hospitals. Colleagues of the suspected gunman told Czech media that he had recently gone on sick leave, declaring he was seriously ill. He was said to be a construction engineer who had been treated at the hospital's haemato-oncology department. Prime Minister Andrej Babis confirmed that six people had been killed and that the shootings occurred at close range. He said the suspect had visited his mother at her home following the attack to inform her of what he had done. Mr Babis then cancelled a foreign trip to travel to Ostrava, reports said. The hospital in Ostrava is about 300km (190 miles) east of Prague The governor of the Moravian-Silesian Region, Ivo Vondrak, said the shooting was "a great tragedy". Police said that officers responding to reports of a shooting had arrived at the scene within five minutes. Ostrava is about 300km (190 miles) east of Prague. Police later offered their condolences to the families and staff affected by Tuesday's shooting and thanked the public for their assistance throughout the day. After announcing that the area was safe and that roads had been reopened, members of the public visited the hospital to lay flowers and light candles. People later paid their respects for the victims by laying flowers and lighting candles Gun attacks in the Czech Republic are rare, although gun ownership is relatively high for Europe because of the popularity of hunting. In 2015, a man opened fire in a restaurant in the eastern town of Uhersky Brod, killing eight people before turning the gun on himself. Last week, the Czech government lost a legal challenge to an EU law restricting private use of semi-automatic rifles. It was introduced by the European Union in 2017 after a spate of militant Islamist attacks in 2015. The government in Prague said the law would do nothing to increase security.According to Czech PM Andrej Babis the man who shot dead six people at Ostrava teaching hospital this morning was a patient at the hospital. Babis said he fled the scene and visited his mother, where he told her what he'd done and that he was going to kill himself.
— Rob Cameron (@BBCRobC) December 10, 2019
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