Robert Kosidło, a 51-year-old helper for vendors at the Main Market Square in Kraków, is one of six victims of the Saturday attack on November 7. According to colleagues from the Market, he was just seconds away from reaching shelter in a shop.
He died at the entrance to a shop
According to vendors selling souvenirs, the man was working that day selling paintings near the Cloth Hall. Around 3 p.m. he went over to friends to help them pack up their stalls, as the cold meant trade was to end early.
When gunshots rang out across the Market, people began fleeing into nearby shops. Vendors say that he and a colleague were heading for the entrance to the Zara store. The colleague managed to run inside, while Kosidło was shot in the doorway. He was resuscitated and taken to hospital, but he died.
We reported on the course of the attack, the arrest of the gunman and the scale of the tragedy in our earlier coverage: police arrest the gunman from a car on the Main Market.
Who he was
Kosidło came from Rybnik and lived in Kraków in a flat he rented with colleagues in Nowa Huta. According to Gazeta Krakowska, which first described his story, he underwent a serious operation after an accident in Italy and never fully regained his mobility. Despite this, for years he appeared at the Market every day.
He had worked with the vendors for about 20 years. They say he unpacked and moved carts of souvenirs, brought lunches and tea, and watched over stalls when someone had to leave. “Robert had no luck in life, and here too he was missing a few seconds,” the vendors say.
Farewell from the vendors
The association of vendors selling souvenirs signed the condolence book placed at Kraków City Hall. They wrote that they had personally experienced the tragedy by losing their colleague Robert. The vendors tried to find a way to contact his relatives in Silesia to arrange the funeral.
On Monday evening, a Silent March in memory of the victims took place in Kraków, attended among others by Prime Minister Donald Tusk and President Karol Nawrocki. We wrote about the condition of the three wounded people who were taken to hospital in our article doctors on the condition of the wounded in the attack.
