David Kozak biography: 10 things about Univerzita Karlova student from Kladno, Czech Republic

David Kozák was a Czech man who attended Univerzita Karlova (Charles University) in Prague, Czech Republic. He was a high-achieving student with no criminal record prior to December 21, 2023.

While attending the Filozoficka Fakulta of Univerzita Karlova, Kozak authored a bachelor’s thesis titled “Problematika antagonismu haličského rolnického a krakovského povstání v roce 1846” (The Antagonism problematics of Galician Peasant Revolt and Kraków Uprising in the year of 1846). The thesis aimed to outline the ideological program of the Krakow uprising and to describe the circumstances leading to its failure.

In the thesis, Kozak investigated the causes of the defeat of the Kraków uprising for the independence of the Polish state, primarily the failure of the Polish insurgents’ efforts to gain the support of the Galician peasants for their cause. The thesis was supervised by František Stellner, a professor from Univerzita Karlova’s Institute of World History.

Kozak was from Kladno, Central Bohemian Region, Czech Republic. Here are 10 more things about him:

1. He earned his bachelor’s degree in history and European studies from Univerzita Karlova.
2. After earning his bachelor’s degree, he went back to Univerzita Karlova to pursue a master’s degree in Polish history.
3. With a proclivity for firearms, he held a license to own eight guns, including two long guns.
4. On June 20, 2022, he defended his bachelor’s thesis titled “Problematika antagonismu haličského rolnického a krakovského povstání v roce 1846”.
5. On April 18, 2023, it was announced that his bachelor’s thesis about the Galician Peasant Uprising of 1846 was one of the winners of the Marian Szyjkowski Prize from Polský Institut V Praze in Prague.
6. On April 28, 2023, he went to the Embassy of Poland in Prague to receive his award from Polský Institut V Praze.
7. On December 7, 2023, eighth-grade progymnasium student Alina Afanaskina, 14, took her own life after fatally shooting another student and wounding five others at a school in Bryansk, Russia. On December 10, 2023, he allegedly wrote in a Telegram message, “I want to do a school shooting and possibly suicide. Alina Afanaskina helped me too much.”
8. He is being investigated for the killing of a man and the man’s 2-month-old daughter in Klánovický les, a forest in Prague, on December 15, 2023.
9. On December 21, 2023, he fatally shot his father then went to Univerzita Karlova where he fatally shot 14 people and wounded 25 others. Shortly after, he fatally shot himself. He was 24.
10. On December 23, 2023, the government of the Czech Republic declared a day of mourning across the country to remember the 14 people he fatally shot.