Disturbing violent fantasies – classmate reports on Krakow attackers

After the fatal attack in the center of Krakow, more details about the alleged perpetrator are becoming known. According to the public prosecutor's office, he is 24-year-old Michał O. from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.

The armed man drove a car into Krakow's main market on Saturday afternoon and shot people indiscriminately. According to current information, six people were killed, including two foreign nationals. 16 people were injured, including two police officers and the attacker himself. He is said to have previously killed his parents and sister. The Polish magazines “Fakt” and “Onet” report on the background.

The origin of the weapons is still unclear. The public prosecutor's office does not yet know where the man got it from or whether he had the necessary permits, reports “Fakt”.

Michał O. was injured and taken to a hospital. Prosecutor's spokesman Tomasz Waszczuk said: "We don't know exactly what injuries he suffered. Whether they were injuries related to the police operation, in other words because he was shot at, or possibly the result of a collision with a car." According to authorities, the attacker is now in critical condition.

According to a former classmate, there were already indications of involvement in acts of violence during her school years. The woman told the Polish radio station Radio Eska that Michał O. had drawn disturbing pictures in class. "I remember a situation when we were sitting in class and, for example, he was drawing pictures. In these pictures he was drawing hanging people or depicting someone coming in with a gun," the woman told the Onet news portal.

When asked by classmates, Michał O. explained that it was about an attack on the school. “He said that it was an attack on the school, that there were bodies everywhere and that he was just coming to school with this pistol,” the woman reported. The students at the time perceived the drawings as disturbing, but did not understand them as an announcement of an actual attack.

The former classmate also remembered a digital lesson in which the later attacker is said to have joined with an old gas mask over his face. When asked about these performances and his drawings, he replied that he wanted to become an assassin.

Neighbors in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski also describe Michał O. as silent and withdrawn. Zdzisław Szostak, who said he was friends with the 24-year-old's parents, told "Fakt": "He was a bit strange. He never spoke. When he thought about it, which was rare, he said hello. Otherwise he had the hood pulled over his head."

A neighbor gave a similar description of the young man: "The son was the only one who didn't smile. He was so distant, so sad. He dressed in black." Zdzisław Szostak, on the other hand, described his parents as happy people. "I was friends with his parents. We lived next door to each other. We celebrated New Year's Eve together. Such happy people. Not like him," "Fakt" quotes him as saying.

After the attack, the 24-year-old's parents and sister were found dead with gunshot wounds in the family's apartment. According to “Fakt”, the sister usually lived in Krakow and, according to neighbors, was visiting her parents. Local residents were stunned that they had not heard of the three killings. Previously, they had not heard any arguments or noticeable noise coming from the apartment. “Absolutely nothing that could have worried us,” a neighbor told “Fakt”.

Numerous weapons in the apartment

Zdzisław Szostak also reported that he knew that there were numerous weapons in the apartment. That didn't worry him. "Well, they just had such passion. They both drove to a nearby shooting range every Sunday morning. It didn't seem dangerous to me," he said. According to the report, this meant father and son.

The investigation into the background to the attack and the three deaths in the apartment is ongoing. According to “Onet”, the public prosecutor’s office initiated investigations into a total of nine homicides. It has not yet been conclusively determined whether Michał O. also killed his parents and sister.