The man who opened fire in a public square, killing six people in a suspected far-right terrorist attack in Krakow, Poland, has died, police said Monday morning.
The man, 24, was shot dead by police during midday carnage on Saturday in the Market Square, the historic center of Poland’s second-largest city.
More than a dozen other people, including two police officers, were injured. The two police officers were in “serious” condition, regional official Krzysztof Jan Klęczar said on Sunday.
The shooter “acted with the aim of seriously intimidating a large number of people, making it a terrorist crime,” Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said on X.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said he used an automatic rifle to carry out the attack and was “fascinated by far-right ideologies.”
However, officials appeared to walk back their earlier comments, with nationalist opposition politicians questioning why the interior minister had said far-right ideology was the motive.
“Until the matter is completely clarified and the authorities have complete information, it is best to refrain from making comments, even if there are some initial indications,” government spokesman Adam Szlapka told TVN24.
Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said Monday that despite the shooter’s death, the investigation would continue, aimed at establishing whether he acted alone or was inspired by a group.
“Evidence is being collected, but I will not show or disclose it. I ask for restraint,” Zurek told Radio Zet.
A man and two women, believed to be the shooter’s parents and sister, were also found dead in an apartment in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyskie, a town about 150 km northeast of Krakow, according to Andrzej Fijołek, deputy inspector of the national police. The suspect was also charged with murder in connection with the killings, Żurek said on Sunday.
Four women and two men were killed in the shooting. Three of the women and one of the men were Polish, authorities said. A man from the United Kingdom and an Austrian woman were also among the dead.
The two police officers who arrested the shooter, in actions described as heroic by authorities, are still in hospital. They were both conscious Sunday afternoon.
Five foreigners are among the injured. They come from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria.
The attack took place in the popular shopping and tourist destination of Krakow.
“We literally ran for our lives and managed to hide from the flying bullets,” Marie-Ange Collaer, who was visiting with her family from Brussels, wrote on Facebook.
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