The gunman who killed six people in Krakow’s historic Main Market Square has died in hospital, Polish police said on Monday, taking with him the answers to why he carried out one of the worst mass shootings in the country’s modern history.
Key Points
- Krakow shooting suspect dies — the 24-year-old, identified in Polish media as Michał O., died at about 4.30am on Monday after several operations.
- He killed six people in the Main Market Square on Saturday and is believed to have killed his parents and sister at home the same day.
- Prosecutors have classified the attack as a suspected terrorist offence and are examining a possible far-right motive.
- Fifteen people injured in the square remain in hospital, 14 of them in a stable condition.
The man was shot by police officers and detained within minutes of opening fire from his car in the square on Saturday afternoon, in what police described as an unprecedented mass shooting for Poland. He had been in critical condition since then and had never been questioned, because of his medical condition. “We would like to inform you that the perpetrator of the tragic events died in hospital early this morning,” Małopolska police wrote on X.
The six killed in the square were four Polish citizens, a British man and an Austrian woman. Sixteen people were injured, 12 of them initially in a life-threatening condition. A police officer wounded while arresting the attacker remains in a serious condition, though he was brought out of a medically induced coma on Sunday.
Three more victims at home
On Saturday evening, police discovered the bodies of the suspect’s parents and younger sister at their flat in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 150 kilometres north-east of Krakow. The victims were his 53-year-old father, 52-year-old mother and 21-year-old sister. The National Prosecutor’s Office believes the same man was responsible for both incidents, and autopsies of all nine victims were scheduled to begin on Monday.
The prosecutor’s office formally classified the Krakow attack as a suspected terrorist offence on Sunday. The government had said the assailant may have been inspired by far-right ideology, without providing further details, and the interior minister said preliminary indications pointed that way. At a press conference on Monday, however, prosecutors said there was no evidence tying the suspect to any particular political bent — a dispute that is already turning political as Poland mourns.
The suspect possessed a valid firearms licence, had no previous criminal convictions and was not previously known to police. He was dressed in military garb when he opened fire.
What happens next
With the suspect dead, proceedings directly concerning him will be discontinued, but Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said the investigation will continue, aiming to establish whether he acted alone or was inspired by any group. Prosecutors must now rely on forensic examinations, witness testimony and material recovered during searches.
Poland’s second day of national mourning began on Monday, with national mourning ending on Monday night and Krakow’s own mourning running through 11 November. The investigation’s focus now turns to the clothing and weapons recovered, and to the sequence of a day that left nine people dead — and a country asking how it happened.
For background on Poland’s recent political tensions, see our report on the Polish president hosting crisis meetings over a high court dispute, and on protests erupting outside Poland’s constitutional court. More in our World News section.
Sources: Reuters via GMA News, “Krakow mass shooting assailant dies in hospital, Polish police say“; Nexus Europa, “Kraków Shooting Suspect Dies in Hospital as Prosecutors Investigate Nine Deaths“.