Perpetrator of Kraków massacre: admirer of Breivik with far-right extremism indicators
The 24-year-old Michał Oksiński, who killed six people in Kraków's central square, regularly visited websites dedicated to Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik.
Kraków perpetrator: "very strong evidence" of far-right extremism
The dead perpetrator who opened fire in Kraków's central square on Saturday, killing six people, regularly visited websites dedicated to Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik, according to In.gr. On Tuesday, Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek stated on Radio Krakow that there are "very strong indicators of far-right extremism" behind the suspect's actions.
Prosecutors identified the perpetrator as 24-year-old labourer Michał Oksiński, a resident of Ostrówiec Świętokrzyski. Oksiński was wounded by police gunfire minutes after the attack and died in hospital on Monday. "It is clear that he visited websites concerning Anders Breivik," Żurek stated.
In July 2011, neo-Nazi Anders Breivik killed eight people with a car bomb in Oslo and subsequently opened fire on youth camp participants on the island of Utøya, killing 69 more people, most of them teenagers.
Political dispute over motives
Oksiński's motives have sparked fierce political debate in Poland since Saturday. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński stated immediately after the incident that the perpetrator had been influenced by far-right ideology. The leader of the nationalist opposition party Law and Justice (PiS), Jarosław Kaczyński, branded this statement an "outright lie", whilst government members appeared to back away on Monday.
PiS MP Michał Wójcik told Reuters he was "outraged" by Żurek's comments. "In my view, representatives of the Polish government are behaving dishonestly towards the international community," he said. Kierwiński stated on Tuesday that he was not retracting anything he had said, but that he was waiting for investigators' findings.
Findings in the room and workplace
Żurek mentioned that a yellow flag with a snake and the phrase "Don't tread on me" was found in Oksiński's room, known as the Gadsden flag, which far-right groups in the United States have used, amongst others during the Capitol invasion on 6 January. Symbols found in his workplace "may point in this direction of the investigation," the minister added. A silencer was also found in the vehicle used by the perpetrator.
Żurek emphasised that the investigation will continue despite the perpetrator's death, with the aim of establishing whether he acted alone or was inspired by some organised group. "Evidence is being gathered, but I will not show it or disclose it. I am asking for restraint," he stated on Radio Zet.
Arrests for threatening content online
Poland's Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime (CBZC) announced the arrest of five Polish citizens and one Ukrainian, aged 15 to 36, who posted threatening or concerning content online after the attack. The bureau and police are on high alert for potential copycat attackers, according to a spokesperson.
Triple family tragedy and prior warning signs
On Saturday, the perpetrator's father, mother, and sister were found dead in the family home. Authorities report that they were likely also murdered by him. His sister, Magdalena Oksiński, was a student at the School of Fine Arts and had visited her parents for the weekend.
A former classmate of Oksiński's from the Centre for Vocational and Continuing Education in Ostrówiec Świętokrzyski revealed, in an interview with Radio ESKA journalist Jakub Krężak, that even as a student Oksiński would draw pictures of hanged people and armed school attacks. "We would ask him what it was and he would tell us it was an attack on a school, that there were corpses there and that he entered the school with this gun," she said. "He said it as if it were his dream."
She described him as an introverted and quiet man who only came alive during history lessons and was passionate about military history and warfare matters. "No one really expected that one day it would become reality," she added.
Source: In.gr