Kraków mass shooting: British teenager among 15 injured as gunman kills six
A British teenager from York was hospitalised after being shot in Kraków's Main Market Square on Saturday. Gunman Michał Oksiński, 24, killed six people before dying in hospital early Monday.
British teen shot as Kraków gunman kills six in Poland's worst mass shooting
A British teenager is among the wounded after a gunman opened fire in Kraków's Main Market Square on Saturday, killing six people before dying of his injuries in the early hours of Monday morning, The Sun reports.
Michał Oksiński, 24, launched his midday attack on the historic square — a major tourist destination in Poland's second-largest city — using an automatic rifle. He died at 4:30 a.m. local time on Monday after undergoing several operations while in critical condition.
Harry Marchant, 19, from York, suffered gunshot wounds during the rampage and was taken to hospital. A British man was also among the six killed. Four women and two men died in total; three of the women and one of the men were Polish, while an Austrian woman was also among the dead, authorities confirmed.
Fifteen others were wounded. Two police officers were described as being in "serious" condition. Five foreign nationals — from the UK, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria — were among the injured, officials said.
Before travelling to Kraków, Oksiński is believed to have killed his sister, mother and father at the family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, approximately 90 miles northeast of the city. Their bodies were found there by police.
Weapons cache and far-right links under scrutiny
Eleven weapons in total were recovered. Four — including two AR-15 semiautomatic rifles — were found on the attacker or in his car in Kraków. Seven more were found at the family home. Prosecutors said dozens, if not hundreds, of shots were fired during the attack.
Oksiński and his father had held gun permits, and he had trained at a local shooting club. The club said in a statement that he "was never trained in our club in the areas of dynamic, tactical or combat shooting."
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said on Saturday that Oksiński "was fascinated by far-right ideologies" and held "very radical" and "ultranationalistic" views. Among the items found in his room was a yellow flag bearing a snake and the words "Don't tread on me" — the Gadsden flag, first used during the American Revolution in the 18th century.
National Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Przemysław Nowak said at a press conference Monday that investigators did not yet know what had motivated the killer. He noted the flag had been associated with "various meanings related to freedom or rebellion" and was not widely known as being linked to any form of extremism. Interior Ministry spokesperson Karolina Galecka added that many different emblems found on the perpetrator's clothing were still being examined and interpreted.
Government spokesperson Adam Szłapka told Polish broadcaster TVN24 that it was "best to refrain from making comments" about Oksiński's political views "until the matter is fully clarified and the authorities are in possession of complete information," acknowledging there were "some initial indications."
Political dispute over motive
The nationalist opposition has challenged the initial framing of the motive. Law & Justice party leader Jarosław Kaczyński called the claims of far-right motivation a "blatant lie." Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek told Radio Zet that investigators would continue to establish whether Oksiński acted alone or had been inspired by any group.
Authorities said they believed he killed his family — possibly while they slept — before making his way to the city centre.
Poland had not previously experienced a mass shooting of this scale. The sight of bodies and blood across one of the country's most historic public spaces has deeply shocked a nation that has long regarded itself as safer than its Western European neighbours, with authorities still examining evidence as of Monday.
Source: The Sun