<p>A gunman killed himself on Tuesday after shooting dead six patients at a hospital in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, in what the country's premier has called "an immense tragedy".</p>.<p>The attacker gunned down people at close range at the trauma ward of the Faculty Hospital in Ostrava, a steel hub located some 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Prague, police said.</p>.<p>Four men and two women died during the assault, which lasted only a few seconds.</p>.<p>A father was gunned down as he protected his daughter, according to Czech Television. Two men were prison service employees, said the justice ministry.</p>.<p>Two other people were seriously wounded. A woman was in a critical condition after being shot in the head and a man was past the worst following surgery, rescue services said. Another man sustained light injuries.</p>.<p>Police said they had not yet determined what drove the 42-year-old to launch the attack.</p>.<p>"The gunman was allegedly shooting from a close range, aiming at the head and neck," Prime Minister Andrej Babis told local media in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.</p>.<p>The broadsheet daily DNES quoted a witness as saying the gunman had chased children out of the waiting room before opening fire.</p>.<p>"He walked up to a victim, shouted 'one' and shot, then he went to another, shouted 'two' and shot," she said.</p>.<p>Another witness told Czech TV the gunman had tried to recharge after emptying his first cartridge but was interrupted and fled.</p>.<p>The shooter then left the scene in a silver Renault Laguna car, sparking a police hunt involving hundreds of officers and two helicopters.</p>.<p>"His mother cooperated with the police -- he came home, told her he had shot people and that he was going to shoot himself now," Babis said at the site of the crime after travelling to Ostrava.</p>.<p>The man had turned the gun on himself inside the vehicle as police were about to capture him in a village just northwest of Ostrava, regional police chief Tomas Kuzel said.</p>.<p>"We identified the gunman using hospital cameras. We deployed two helicopters, identified his car... and when one helicopter descended over the car, he shot himself in the head," Kuzel told reporters.</p>.<p>Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said the man died despite resuscitation efforts.</p>.<p>Police said the gunman had used the Czech-made nine-millimetre semi-automatic CZ 75 pistol in the attack, which took place shortly after 0600 GMT.</p>.<p>"As far as we know, the man is not in our database of legal gun owners," Kuzel said, adding there was no indication that he had an accomplice.</p>.<p>The man had three entries in his criminal record for violence and theft, said Kuzel.</p>.<p>Czech media identified the shooter as a builder from the nearby Opava district.</p>.<p>His boss, named as Ales Zygula, told the public Czech Radio that the attacker had "decided he was seriously ill and that no one wanted to treat him.</p>.<p>"We noticed a slight change in his behaviour," he added.</p>.<p>A local singer who claims he knew the man said he had believed he had cancer.</p>.<p>Prior to his death, police had urged "maximum possible caution" as they tweeted pictures of the man who had thick black hair and was wearing a red and black jacket and trainers.</p>.<p>Babis described the shooting as "a catastrophe" and said sirens would sound across the country at noon next Tuesday to honour the dead.</p>.<p>"It's something we're not used to in our country," he added. "Nobody understands why the gunman was so merciless."</p>.<p>President Milos Zeman also expressed his condolences.</p>.<p>"I'm with you in my heart, I'm thinking of you in these tragic hours," he said in a tweet posted by his spokesman.</p>.<p>Gun rampages are rare in this EU member country of 10.7 million people.</p>.<p>In 2015, a restaurant guest in the southeastern town of Uhersky Brod shot dead seven men and a woman before committing suicide.</p>.<p>In March this year, a patient at a Prague hospital shot two fellow patients after an argument in a room. One of the men died.</p>
<p>A gunman killed himself on Tuesday after shooting dead six patients at a hospital in the eastern Czech city of Ostrava, in what the country's premier has called "an immense tragedy".</p>.<p>The attacker gunned down people at close range at the trauma ward of the Faculty Hospital in Ostrava, a steel hub located some 300 kilometres (190 miles) east of Prague, police said.</p>.<p>Four men and two women died during the assault, which lasted only a few seconds.</p>.<p>A father was gunned down as he protected his daughter, according to Czech Television. Two men were prison service employees, said the justice ministry.</p>.<p>Two other people were seriously wounded. A woman was in a critical condition after being shot in the head and a man was past the worst following surgery, rescue services said. Another man sustained light injuries.</p>.<p>Police said they had not yet determined what drove the 42-year-old to launch the attack.</p>.<p>"The gunman was allegedly shooting from a close range, aiming at the head and neck," Prime Minister Andrej Babis told local media in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.</p>.<p>The broadsheet daily DNES quoted a witness as saying the gunman had chased children out of the waiting room before opening fire.</p>.<p>"He walked up to a victim, shouted 'one' and shot, then he went to another, shouted 'two' and shot," she said.</p>.<p>Another witness told Czech TV the gunman had tried to recharge after emptying his first cartridge but was interrupted and fled.</p>.<p>The shooter then left the scene in a silver Renault Laguna car, sparking a police hunt involving hundreds of officers and two helicopters.</p>.<p>"His mother cooperated with the police -- he came home, told her he had shot people and that he was going to shoot himself now," Babis said at the site of the crime after travelling to Ostrava.</p>.<p>The man had turned the gun on himself inside the vehicle as police were about to capture him in a village just northwest of Ostrava, regional police chief Tomas Kuzel said.</p>.<p>"We identified the gunman using hospital cameras. We deployed two helicopters, identified his car... and when one helicopter descended over the car, he shot himself in the head," Kuzel told reporters.</p>.<p>Interior Minister Jan Hamacek said the man died despite resuscitation efforts.</p>.<p>Police said the gunman had used the Czech-made nine-millimetre semi-automatic CZ 75 pistol in the attack, which took place shortly after 0600 GMT.</p>.<p>"As far as we know, the man is not in our database of legal gun owners," Kuzel said, adding there was no indication that he had an accomplice.</p>.<p>The man had three entries in his criminal record for violence and theft, said Kuzel.</p>.<p>Czech media identified the shooter as a builder from the nearby Opava district.</p>.<p>His boss, named as Ales Zygula, told the public Czech Radio that the attacker had "decided he was seriously ill and that no one wanted to treat him.</p>.<p>"We noticed a slight change in his behaviour," he added.</p>.<p>A local singer who claims he knew the man said he had believed he had cancer.</p>.<p>Prior to his death, police had urged "maximum possible caution" as they tweeted pictures of the man who had thick black hair and was wearing a red and black jacket and trainers.</p>.<p>Babis described the shooting as "a catastrophe" and said sirens would sound across the country at noon next Tuesday to honour the dead.</p>.<p>"It's something we're not used to in our country," he added. "Nobody understands why the gunman was so merciless."</p>.<p>President Milos Zeman also expressed his condolences.</p>.<p>"I'm with you in my heart, I'm thinking of you in these tragic hours," he said in a tweet posted by his spokesman.</p>.<p>Gun rampages are rare in this EU member country of 10.7 million people.</p>.<p>In 2015, a restaurant guest in the southeastern town of Uhersky Brod shot dead seven men and a woman before committing suicide.</p>.<p>In March this year, a patient at a Prague hospital shot two fellow patients after an argument in a room. One of the men died.</p>