The man who is suspected of opening fire on the public in Krakow's Main Square, Poland, killing six people and injuring 15, including two police officers, has died in hospital. Those killed in Krakow's mains square and tourism hotspot were four Polish citizens, a British man and an Austrian woman. Among the 15 wounded are people from Britain, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria.
After exchanging fire with the police, the attacker was wounded, detained and taken to hospital. Doctors had described his condition as critical.
The death of the attacker was announced by the Lesser Poland police on X. "We inform you that the perpetrator of the tragic events died in hospital in the early hours of today," they wrote.
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The information was also confirmed by the Lesser Poland voivode, Krakow's region head, Krzysztof Klęczar, on TVN24, a Polish 24/7 news channel. "At 4:30, the perpetrator of the attack died; he died in one of Krakow's hospitals," he said.
He also reported that "the condition of the remaining injured, there are at this moment 15 of them in six Krakow hospitals, remains unchanged". The two police officers who stopped the gunman, in actions authorities described as heroic, remain in hospital. They were both conscious on Monday.
The attacker was identified as Michał Oksiński, a 24-year-old Polish citizen who lived in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski in the Świętokrzyskie region, north of Krakow.
Police say he was wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest, had driven into the city's main square and opened fire on Saturday. The square, in Krakow’s Old Town, is a major tourist destination in Poland’s second-largest city.
Oksiński had no previous convictions and had not been on record. Prosecutors said Monday that “tens, if not hundreds” of bullets were fired in Krakow. They also said the attacker had four guns in his possession while in Krakow, including two semi-automatic AR-15 rifles.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the shooting — the deadliest in the country since the end of communism in 1989 — an act of "terrorismGeneral".
Three bodies in the flat
In the flat occupied by the 24-year-old alleged perpetrator of the attack, police officers found the bodies of three people: a 53-year-old man, a 52-year-old woman and a 21-year-old woman. The authorities established that the dead were the closest family members of the attacker, his parents and his sister.
"On the bodies of these people, whom we found in the flat, we identified injuries which we assess as gunshot wounds. The cause and nature of death will be clarified. The bodies have been secured for detailed examinations," said junior inspector Kamil Tokarski, spokesperson for the Świętokrzyskie police.
In line with the prosecutor's office announcements, autopsies of the six people who died in the attack in Krakow and of the three murder victims in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski have begun. Due to the nature and extent of the gunshot wounds, the examinations could take around two days.
A total of 11 firearms were recovered from the scene of the attack and the attacker's home
Police found four firearms at the scene of the attack. They were recovered from the attacker or from his car. Two were two semi-automatic rifles and two pistols.
Local officials said seven weapons were also seized from the family home, bringing the total number of firearms recovered to 11.
They said both father and son had gun permits. The attacker had permits for a semi-automatic rifle and a pistol since March, they said. Neither father nor son was known to authorities.
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland, a country of 37 million people where about 411,000 people hold gun permits. Interest in gun ownership has been rising, however.
After the shooting, authorities on Saturday night paused St. Mary’s Trumpet Call — a traditional five-note melody that is played every hour from the highest tower of St. Mary’s Basilica on the main city square — in tribute to the victims.
It was the first time the call had been missed since World War II.
