The Kraków District Prosecutor’s Office intends to issue a decision on Sunday, 8 November, to open an investigation into Saturday’s attack on the Main Market Square and to classify it as a terrorist offence. Prosecutor Tomasz Waszczuk, spokesman for the prosecutor’s office, announced this.
The spokesman made the statement on TVP Info. He added that the offence committed by the perpetrator carries a penalty of life imprisonment.
Attacker in hospital, not yet questioned
According to Prosecutor Waszczuk, the attacker has not formally been detained due to his condition and the circumstances of the incident. He was shot during an intervention and is in hospital. His health currently prevents questioning, and charges will be presented after the doctors’ decision. The perpetrator is a 24-year-old resident of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
What the terrorist classification means
Under Article 115 § 20 of the Criminal Code, an offence is considered terrorist if it is punishable by a prison sentence with an upper limit of at least five years and is committed for one of the purposes specified in that provision.
Who is leading the investigation
Already on Saturday evening, Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek reported that seven prosecutors were working at the scene, with inspections of the fatalities being carried out as a priority. Tomasz Siemoniak, minister coordinating the special services, said that the Internal Security Agency (ABW) and the Military Counterintelligence Service have been involved in the actions from the beginning, and that the perpetrator’s connections, past and his family’s background are being examined.
Investigators are securing CCTV footage and analysing the route the car took.
Toll of the attack
On Saturday, at around 3 p.m., a masked man drove a car onto the Main Market Square and opened fire on random people. Six people were killed and 16 injured, including police officers. We reported the details in our article on the arrest of the gunman on the Market Square. President Karol Nawrocki signed a decree declaring national mourning on Sunday and Monday.
