The perpetrator of Saturday’s attack on the Main Market Square in Kraków died in hospital early on Monday, 9 November, the Lesser Poland Police said. The National Prosecutor’s Office (PK) announced that the investigation will continue.
The police received information about the man’s death from the hospital. “We received information from the hospital this morning about the death of this man,” the press team of the Lesser Poland Police told PAP, adding that the prosecutor’s office would provide further details. The perpetrator had been in critical condition after an exchange of fire with police officers.
Prosecution: investigation ongoing
Prosecutor Eryk Stasielak of the National Prosecutor’s Office said that the perpetrator’s death does not affect the planned investigative actions. The prosecution will continue to examine the attacker’s motives and any possible links to other people. All identified witnesses will be questioned, and investigators will gather and analyse the evidence.
The death means abandoning actions aimed directly at the perpetrator – presenting him with charges and a motion for temporary detention, which the prosecution had been considering before his death.
Autopsies of the victims
On Monday morning, autopsies are due to begin on the bodies of six people killed in Kraków and three people killed in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. According to Stasielak, the examinations may last about two days due to the complex nature of the gunshot wounds.
Two cases, one perpetrator
The investigation into both cases is being conducted by the Lesser Poland branch office of the National Prosecutor’s Office. According to its findings, the evidence indicates that both acts were committed by the same person – a 24-year-old Polish citizen. In Kraków, as reported, six people were killed and 16 were injured, including two police officers. The prosecution links the murder of three members of the perpetrator’s family in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski to the same man.
On Sunday, the prosecution announced that the incident in Kraków would be prosecuted as a terrorist offence – we wrote about the classification of the act as terrorist. Earlier, the police revealed the perpetrator’s citizenship and denied rumours.
