(Seoul, Berlin = Yonhap News) Reporter Kwak Min-seo and Correspondent Kim Gye-yeon = Polish authorities have decided to investigate the Krakow shooting incident, which killed 22 people, as a terrorist attack. Three bodies believed to be members of the gunman's family were found at the home of the shooting suspect.
According to AFP, the Polish prosecutor's office announced on the 8th (local time), the day after the incident, that it had begun an investigation, saying, "This act of killing six people by shooting and attempting to kill many people, including a police officer, constitutes a crime of terrorism."
Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with reporters in Krakow the day before and said, "Until now, such an extreme terrorist incident has never occurred in Poland," and added, "We should call this brutal attack targeting people's lives that (terrorism)."
Authorities determined that Polish national suspect Michał O (24) was into far-right ideology. Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierbinski said the man had "very radical and extreme nationalist tendencies."
According to authorities, six people were killed and 16 people, including the suspect, were injured in a shooting that occurred in the central square of the Old Town of Krakow, Poland's second largest city, around 3 p.m. the previous day.
The gunman shot indiscriminately at passers-by while riding in a car in the central square. He drove a black Subaru vehicle to various points in the square and fired an automatic weapon when he stopped at each point.
The suspect wore a military-style combat uniform and bulletproof vest and used a military-style long gun, and many other weapons and ammunition were also found in the vehicle.
The urgent atmosphere of the scene was captured in the videos and photos posted by witnesses on social media.
Passersby fled from the square and took refuge in nearby alleys, and tram windows were shattered by bullets.
Emergency responders dispatched to the scene attempted CPR on victims who had collapsed on the street, and a Polish Air Medical Rescue helicopter was also seen landing in the square.
The police who arrived after receiving the report immediately opened fire in response. The gunman was driving away, but when he crashed into another vehicle, he got out of the car and shot at the police. The suspect was shot and subdued in the process, and two police officers also suffered gunshot wounds.
One video showed a police officer firing his gun all the way towards the gunman before slowly falling to the ground.
Of the six deaths confirmed so far, four are Polish and one is a 32-year-old British man. The nationality of the remaining person has not been confirmed.
There were 16 injured people, including 5 foreign nationals of Austria, Germany, Portugal, Russia, and the UK, and 13 of them were hospitalized in serious condition.
After subduing the suspect, authorities found the bodies of three family members, including his parents and younger sister, at his home in Ostrowiec, about 150 kilometers northeast of Krakow. Authorities, concerned about security threats, used a drone to inspect the interior of the shooter's home and identified the bodies of his family members who had died from gunshot wounds.
The suspect had a semi-automatic rifle that appeared to be an AR-15 series, a pistol, and an optical sight at the time of the crime in Krakow. Authorities confiscated 11 firearms, including 4 from the vehicle and 7 from the home. Prosecutor's spokesman Daniel Prokopovich said the number of guns secured was consistent with the number of possession permits issued to the suspect and his father.
Poland is a country where gun incidents are extremely rare, but interest in gun ownership has recently been increasing. Out of a population of 37 million, approximately 411,000 people have a permit to possess a firearm.
Polish President Karol Navrodski declared a two-day period of national mourning on the 8th and 9th and expressed condolences to the victims.
Kraków Mayor Ukás Giba announced that there will be an official mourning period at the city level until the 11th.
He said Krakow would remain open to visitors after the tragedy and that "the square will be ours again."
