In brief
The suspect, identified as Michał O., opened fire from a vehicle in Krakow’s Main Market Square on Saturday, killing six people and injuring 16 others. He was shot in a firefight with police, taken to hospital in critical condition, and died on Monday. Prosecutors are investigating the murders of three members of his immediate family at a home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and are beginning autopsies of all victims.
The 24‑year‑old gunman who fired from a car in Krakow’s Main Market Square on Saturday, killing six people and injuring 16, was found dead in hospital Monday morning after being shot in a police firefight.
Polish police said the suspect tried to escape from the square around 3 p.m., drove to the intersection of Dietla and Stradomska streets, crashed, then fired from the vehicle and was shot and apprehended.
The death toll in the city later rose from five to six after the bodies of four women and two men were identified.
In addition to the attacks in the square, prosecutors are investigating the killings of three family members—two women and a man—at the suspect’s home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 90 miles north of Krakow.
The bodies of the family victims were found inside the home, and preliminary findings indicate the gunman was responsible for both the city shooting and the home killings.
Autopsies on the victims were scheduled to begin Monday morning, and prosecutors said the examinations could take about two days because of the complex nature of the gunshot wounds.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said investigators believed the gunman was influenced by far‑right ideology, though a motive has not yet been established.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk noted the suspect’s father was one of the three family members killed, while Austrian Foreign Minister Beate Meinl‑Reisinger mentioned an Austrian victim among those killed in the square.