Man accused of killing 6 in far-right shooting rampage dies in hospital, Polish police say

The man who opened fire in a public square, killing six people in a suspected far-right terror attack in Kraków, Poland, has died, police said early Monday. The man, 24, was shot by police during Saturday’s midday rampage in Main Market Square, the historic center of Poland’s second-largest city. More than a dozen others, including two police officers, were injured. The two officers were in “serious” condition, regional official Krzysztof Jan Klęczar said Sunday. The gunman “acted with the aim of seriously intimidating a large number of people, making this a terrorist offence,” Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said on X. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said he used an automatic rifle to carry out the attack and that he “was fascinated by far-right ideologies.” However, officials appeared to backtrack from the earlier comments as nationalist opposition politicians questioned the grounds on which the interior minister had said far-right ideology was the motive. “Until the matter is fully clarified and the authorities are in possession of complete information, it is best to refrain from making comments, even if there are some initial indications,” government spokesman Adam Szlapka told TVN24. Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said on Monday that despite the death of the shooter, the investigation will continue, aiming to establish if he acted alone or was inspired by any group. “Evidence is being collected, but I will not show or disclose it. I ask for restraint,” Zurek told Radio Zet. A man and two women, believed to be the shooter’s parents and sister, were also found dead in an apartment in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyskie, a city about 93 miles northeast of Kraków, according to Andrzej Fijołek, deputy inspector of Police National Headquarters. The suspect faced murder charges in those killings, as well, Żurek said Sunday. Four women and two men were killed in the shooting. Three of the women and one of the men were Polish, authorities said. A man from the U.K. and a woman from Austria were also among the dead. The two police officers who stopped the gunman, in actions authorities hailed as heroic, remain in the hospital. They were both conscious by Sunday afternoon. Five foreigners are among the wounded. They come from the U.K., Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria. The attack took place in Kraków’s popular commerce and tourist destination. “We literally ran for our lives and managed to hide from the bullets flying around,” Marie-Ange Collaer, who was visiting with her family from Brussels, wrote on Facebook.