Suspicion of terrorism: Krakow shooter is dead – investigations are ongoing

The perpetrator of the devastating gun attack in Krakow is dead. He died in hospital, said the police headquarters of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship near X. The 24-year-old was injured when police overpowered him in Poland's second largest city. The authorities were investigating him on suspicion of terrorism. In the attack on Krakow's market square on Saturday, the man shot six people and injured 15 others.

Injured people continue to be treated in six hospitals in Krakow, as the Voivode of Lesser Poland, Krzysztof Kleczar, announced on Monday. The condition of almost everyone is considered stable. However, the condition of a police officer who was directly involved in overpowering the attacker was critical. The voivode is the chairman of a voivodeship, an administrative district of the Republic of Poland.

The gun attack in Krakow could have ended even worse: “Four guns and around 500 rounds of ammunition were discovered on the assassin and in his car,” said a spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office. The man fired a large number of shots at random. Numerous cartridge cases were found. The four firearms seized from the perpetrator and in his car were two AR-15 assault rifles and two pistols.

The motive for the crime remains unclear for the time being, according to the public prosecutor's office. "We have no information that would allow us to clearly determine or assess the motive; there are also no sufficiently reliable indications to be able to assess this responsibly," said the spokesman.

The two police officers who risked their lives to stop the attacker are being celebrated as heroes in Poland. According to media reports, one of the two suffered one gunshot wound and the other three. According to the regional administration, both have now been brought out of artificial deep sleep. According to information from TVN24, one is only 24 and the other is 27 years old.

A fundraising campaign for the injured police officers and their families brought in more than six million zloty - the equivalent of almost one and a half million euros. The well-known journalist Krzysztof Stanowski is said to be the initiator of the campaign on a Polish donation portal. More than 11,000 people contributed money.

According to the PAP news agency, Lukasz Gibala, the mayor of Krakow, announced a tribute to the emergency services involved. They should receive the “Honoris Gratia” award for services to the city. The honorees are also expected to include two surgeons who happened to be nearby when the gun attack occurred. After hearing shots, they immediately rushed to help the injured, Professor Michal Pedziwiatr and Doctor Mateusz Wierdak told the PAP agency.

“Of course we were afraid, but we didn't think about it,” reported Pedziwiatr. The two surgeons described the many doctors and medical professionals who immediately rushed to their workplaces in the clinics as “silent heroes”.

The Voivode of Lesser Poland confirmed the police's information that the shooter died in hospital. He had been in critical condition since being admitted to the clinic and had undergone operations at least three times. A doctor pronounced death around 4:30 a.m. on Monday morning.

The armed attacker opened fire from a moving car in Krakow's market square and shot six people. In addition, the bodies of his father, mother and sister were later found in a residential building in the small town of Ostrowiec Swietokryzskie. It is believed that they were also shot by him.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski reported on the perpetrator's radical views and his fascination with right-wing extremist ideologies. It is not clear whether this or another motive motivated him to kill numerous people. The public prosecutor spoke of a “terrorist character” in the crime. The investigation into the motive will continue even after the shooter's death.

Among the dead in the devastating attack are two foreigners, a person from Great Britain and an Austrian. According to earlier information, five people from Germany, Great Britain, Portugal, Austria and Russia were among the numerous injured.

In the center of Krakow, people laid candles, flowers and cards. A rally was announced for Monday evening on the main market, which had become the scene of the massacre. “Let us show solidarity in this difficult time and prove that Krakow will always be a proud, hospitable and open city,” appealed Mayor Lukasz Gibala on social media.

After the tragedy in Krakow, the special police unit to combat cybercrime arrested five people, an Interior Ministry spokeswoman said. Their online activities could have posed a potential threat. The government warned against disinformation. False information, manipulated images and AI-generated videos about the attack are being spread online.