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A Polish man accused of carrying out a deadly shooting spree in Krakow has died in hospital, two days after he was critically wounded in a gun battle with police, authorities said.
But after he had originally been linked to the far right, prosecutors said that his reasons for
killing nine people, including three family members, remained unclear.
The 24-year-old, dressed in military garb, opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle in a Krakow square, killing six people.
The bodies of his parents and a sister were found at the family home in another town.
Two police officers, who were seriously wounded in the chase, shot the man, named by media as Michal Oksinski, at an intersection near the city’s Main Market Square.
After three operations, the suspect was declared dead around 4.30am local time, regional authorities said on Monday.
“We inform you that the perpetrator of the tragic events died this morning in the hospital,” regional police said in a post on X.
Authorities had previously said the man had been “fascinated by far-right ideologies” and Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the shooting – the deadliest in the country since the fall of communism in 1989 – an act of “terrorism”.
But at a press conference on Monday, prosecutors said that there was no evidence tying the suspect to any particular political bent.
“We do not have findings that we could, in a responsible way, categorically state that he was inspired by any particular ideology,” national prosecutor’s office spokesman Przemyslaw Nowak said.
“It is far too early to comment on the motives … We have not found any obvious symbols that are generally associated with a particular political movement, whether far right or far left.”
An interior ministry spokeswoman told Polish radio that the “many emblems and patches” on Oksinski’s clothing were being analysed as part of the investigation.
Firearms permit review
Six people, including an Austrian woman and a British man, were killed in the Krakow shooting spree, and 15 others were wounded, according to authorities.
The wounded included Austrian, British, German, Portuguese and Russian nationals. The injured were in a “stable” condition on Monday, according to authorities.
While Oksinski’s motives are unclear, investigators are treating the shooting spree as a terrorist incident.
He had no prior criminal record, according to investigators cited by Polish media.
With his father, the suspect was a member of a shooting club. Investigators seized 11 firearms during the search.
His grandmother said Oksinski had obtained a gun licence this year, according to Polish media.
Following the shooting, the Interior Ministry announced a review of the conditions for granting gun licences, with the licence-holder’s medical records to be updated regularly.
Poland has seen a sharp uptick in the number of firearms permits. In 2025, more than 50,000 new licences were awarded, bringing the total to 411,000, according to the police.
– AFP
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