Kraków gunman who killed 6 dies in hospital two days after police shooting

The gunman who killed six people in Kraków's Main Market Square on Saturday died in hospital early Monday, two days after police shot him, Polish police said.

Małopolska police wrote on X, "We would like to inform you that the perpetrator of the tragic events died in hospital early this morning," and gave the time as 4:30 a.m. Monday was the second of two days of national mourning.

Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek told Radio Zet on Monday that investigators would keep working to determine whether the gunman had acted alone or drawn inspiration from a group. "Evidence is being collected, but I will not show or disclose it," he said. "I ask for restraint," Żurek told Radio Zet.

The shooting started at around 3 p.m. Saturday. Wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest, the gunman drove into the square in Kraków's Old Town and shot at people at random from his moving car, Małopolska police said.

Officers wounded the gunman, but he initially continued to fire, police said. The Independent reported that social media footage shows an armed officer approach him as he lies on the ground beside a rifle, then appear to fire six shots before falling to his knees.

Four women and two men died. Four were Polish, while the others were a man from the U.K. and a woman from Austria.

Gunman's father owned more than 10 guns, minister says

The shooting added to concern about extremism following October school stabbings that officials linked to extremist material online, The Guardian reported. The newspaper described Poland as a country considered safer than many European neighbours, and said the attack shocked it.

Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland, a country with more than 37 million people where about 411,000 hold gun permits.

Authorities have not officially identified the gunman, who was a 24-year-old Polish national from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Local media have identified him as Michal O. and said he and his father had no criminal records.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the gunman's father legally owned more than 10 guns, and the gunman owned guns as well. Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the gunman had no military ties and was not a soldier.

Terror investigation continues

St. Mary's Trumpet Call, normally played hourly from St. Mary's Basilica on the square, fell silent overnight Saturday into Sunday in tribute to the victims. It was the first missed call since World War II.

Police confirmed Sunday that the three people found dead in the gunman's family home were his father, 53, mother, 52, and sister, 21. Prosecutors said it was "highly likely" that one person was responsible for those deaths and the Kraków shooting, but investigations continued. Żurek said Sunday that the suspect also faced murder charges in his relatives' deaths.

Prosecutors said Sunday they had begun investigating the murder and attempted murder of numerous people, including police officers, as a terrorist offense. Kierwiński said, "Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies."

Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague, said the gunman's appearance and equipment resembled those of other extreme-right lone actors in Europe. "We have had attempts before, but now we can say that these kinds of attacks have become successful in Poland," he said.

Nationalist opposition politicians questioned the basis for Kierwiński's remarks, and officials appeared to retreat from them, NBC News reported. Prosecutor Eryk Stasielak said a judgment about the gunman's ideology would be premature. "We are first of all investigating if he was inspired by anyone, if someone helped him," Stasielak told The Associated Press.

Both officers who stopped the gunman had regained consciousness by Sunday afternoon after being in comas. Authorities said Monday that all the wounded were stable, though the officer who ultimately stopped the attacker remained in a serious state.

"If it weren't for the efficient and selfless intervention of these two young men, the number of victims could have been significantly higher," Małopolska regional governor Krzysztof Jan Klęczar said Sunday.

Kraków resident Maciej Sikorski visited the square, where candles left by mourners stood beside bullet holes. "I come here so as not to get caught up in a spiral of fear and anxiety," he told The Associated Press.

Autopsies of the victims began Monday, Stasielak said.