Bohumín arson attack

Detail of the windows belonging to the burned out flat

Authorities received multiple phone calls about the fire at 17:46/47. At 17:49, the fire department dispatched units from Bohumín (1 fire engine + 1 ladder truck), Karviná (2 fire engines) and Orlová (1 fire engine + 1 ladder truck). Furthermore, the dispatcher called volunteer units from Bohumín-Šunychl (1 fire engine) and Starý Bohumín (1 fire engine) and a special high rise ladder truck from Ostrava.[6]

The building was first reached by units from Bohumín and Starý Bohumín at 17:54 who immediately raced to the 11th floor to start rescue operations. Trucks from nearby Orlová reached the building at 18:01, volunteer units from Bohumín-Šunychl at 18:04 and units from 16 km-distant Karviná at 18:06. 28 firemen took part in the initial rescue operation, with more arriving afterwards for a total of 46 fire personnel with 9 fire engines and 3 ladder trucks.[6]

When firemen reached the building, the flat was already completely ablaze. Five people jumped out of a window to their deaths while a landing mattress was being prepared. The fire was under control at 18:30 and completely extinguished at 19:43.[6]

Six people were killed in the fire and five more from falling for a total of eleven fatalities. Nine people were rescued from other flats. Fifteen people needed medical attention, ten of them requiring transfer to a hospital. Among the injured were two firemen. A volunteer firefighter inhaled smoke and a professional firefighter suffered serious burns to the neck.[6]

Media identified the following victims:[7]

• Lukáš Konopka (30), suspect's son
• Dominik (9), suspect's grandson
• Lenka V. (30), suspect's soon-to-be daughter-in-law who was celebrating 30th birthday
• Silvia (53), suspect's estranged wife and Lukáš Konopka's mother
• Jana (73), suspect's mother-in-law
• Nikola G. (17, 8 months pregnant), Lenka V.'s sister, who fell out of the window after lengthy effort to hold onto its ledge
• Melinka (11)
• (four dead unidentified by media)

Wounded victims who managed to climb through balconies to neighbour's flat:[8][7]

• Rostislav, who was in bathroom during initial blaze, suffered serious burns
• Žaneta, mother of victims Lenka and Nikola, who was with Rostislav in bathroom during initial blaze, suffered serious burns
• Jakub A., partner of victim Nikola
• Pavel

Police arrested 54-year-old Zdeněk Konopka in front of the building and two days later charged him with multiple murder and public endangerment.

According to the remand request filed by State Attorney Michal Król, the perpetrator had planned the attack in advance. He consumed alcohol in order to strengthen his resolve, filled two plastic bottles with gasoline at a nearby petrol station, and went towards the flat with full knowledge of the birthday party that was taking place inside. The perpetrator stood in front of the entrance doors with open bottles of gasoline in each hand and rang the doorbell. A female, whose name was withheld in the publicly released remand request, opened the doors. Thereafter, the perpetrator threw one of the open bottles at the female victim, who reacted by slamming the doors shut. The perpetrator then poured the remaining gasoline onto the doors, with some of it pouring under the doors into the flat, and set it on fire.[9][10][11] The perpetrator suffered burn wounds on his hands and legs. He went outside where he was confronted by the police and immediately arrested.[10][11]

The Karviná district court ordered his remand on 11 August. If convicted, he may be sentenced to life imprisonment.[10][11]

The perpetrator had four prior criminal convictions, two of them for violent crimes. He was known for aggressiveness as well as high consumption of alcohol. Several weeks before the arson attack, the perpetrator threatened his wife and son with a gas pistol at a nearby lake. Police didn't seek perpetrator's remand at the time as the weapon used was not suitable to cause injury (the perpetrator could not legally possess a real firearm due to his criminal record, see Gun laws in the Czech Republic). After the incident, perpetrator's wife moved to the son's flat. Police investigation into this incident was still open at the time of the arson attack.[12]

Initial investigations conducted by the police revealed that the fire was deliberately set and concluded the incident was an arson attack. The motive was said to be a conflict within the family.[13] Police officials detained Konopka, who is accused in connection with the incident, and during an interview with Česká televize, regional police chief Tomáš Kužel compared the incident to the 2013 Frenštát pod Radhoštěm explosion which eventually killed seven people.[14]

The attack is the worst mass murder in post-WW2 Czech history (see list of massacres). Other mass murders in the Czech Republic in the past decade include the 2013 Harok family murder and Frenštát pod Radhoštěm apartment building explosion, the 2015 Uherský Brod shooting and the 2019 Ostrava hospital attack. The January 2020 Vejprty care center fire was also started deliberately according to investigators, however no one has been charged with causing 8 deaths therein yet.[15] Another attempted mass murder in Lenora in 2019 ended with only the arsonist's loss of life.[16]

• 2009 Vítkov arson attack, another arson attack in the Czech Republic