Gunman behind mass shooting in Krakow, Poland, dies in hospital, police say

The 24-year-old who opened fire in a busy city square in Poland, killing six people and wounding 15 on Saturday, died in a hospital Monday morning, police said.

The attacker, who has only been identified as a Polish man, was wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest when he drove into the Main Square in Krakow's Old Town and opened fire. The location is a major tourist destination in Poland's second-largest city, and several foreigners were among the dead and wounded.

Police said the man initially continued firing even after he was wounded by police officers. He had been in critical condition since the attack and had been operated on multiple times. He died at 4:30 a.m. in the hospital, authorities said.

"We are first of all investigating if he was inspired by anyone, if someone helped him," Eryk Stasielak from the Krakow branch of the national prosecutor's office told The Associated Press. "We have secured his electronic devices and we will try to open them and get to the contents."

Poland was in the second of two days of national mourning on Monday.

Investigators recovered nearly a dozen firearms from both scenes. Poland's interior minister initially said over the weekend that the gunman held possible far-right extremist views, but authorities backtracked Monday, declining to offer any possible motive.

"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 told reporters.  

Prosecutors on Sunday announced the beginning of an investigation into the murder and attempted murder of numerous people, including police officers, saying the act constituted "a terrorist offense."

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.

Five foreigners were among the wounded, from the U.K., Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria.   

Two police officers who stopped the gunman, in actions authorities hailed as heroic, remain in the hospital Monday. They were both conscious by Sunday afternoon after being in comas.

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

Officials launched an appeal for blood donations for the benefit of the most seriously wounded officer.  

The bodies of three people — the assailant's sister, mother and father — were found at the man's house in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a city about 93 miles northeast of Krakow. They likely died from gunshot wounds, authorities said.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the gunman held "very radical" and "ultra-nationalistic" views.

"Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies," Kierwiński said at a news conference.

He said the assailant's father owned over 10 guns legally and that the attacker also owned guns. Local officials in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski said they seized seven weapons from the family home, bringing the total number recovered to 11, including four found in the possession of the man in Krakow or in his car.

Poland mourns the victims

On Sunday night, mourners laid candles and flowers alongside bullet holes in Krakow, Poland, after the city's central square turned into a site of bloodshed and grief.

"I come here so as not to get caught up in a spiral of fear and anxiety," Krakow local Maciej Sikorski told The Associated Press from the square. "In a situation like this, it's all too easy to stop living — to start being afraid instead, and just vegetate. That is something I really want to avoid."

St. Mary's Trumpet Call, a traditional five-note melody played every hour from the highest tower of St. Mary's Basilica on the Main Square, was paused overnight Saturday into Sunday in tribute to the victims. It is the first time the call has been missed since World War II.

"I'm absolutely devastated," Weronika Filar, 27, a Krakow resident, told Agence France-Presse on Sunday.

"It's one of the safest places on Earth genuinely ... I did not expect anything like this to happen to us," she said. "Our city will never be the same."

"We've heard of various incidents of this sort happening elsewhere in Europe," Krzysztof Stepien, a 28-year-old part-time city guide, told AFP.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here, and I hope it never will again," Stepien said.

American tourist Marylin Green mourned the losses in the "beautiful city" during her first trip to Poland that also included the capital.

"I'm Polish, my parents were from here," she said. "I loved Warsaw. So I was really looking forward to coming here, too."

The European flags were flying at half-mast outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels on Sunday.

Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland. However, in mid-October, three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia took place within four days, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children. The young attackers used knives or other sharp objects.

The Krakow shooter's military gear, guns and overall look were similar to those of other "extreme right lone actors" committing attacks around Europe, said Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague.

"We have had attempts before, but now we can say that these kinds of attacks have become successful in Poland," Rekawek said.