Polish Mass Shooter Dies of Injuries; Motive Remains Unclear

Police officers work behind a security cordon near the Main Market Square in Krakow, southern Poland, 08 November 2026, as law enforcement conducts scene inspections following a mass shooting. EPA/ART SERVICE A gunman who killed six people in Krakow and injured many more has died of his injuries in hospital, Polish police said on Monday, as prosecutors continue investigating Saturday’s mass shooting in Krakow in an attempt to establish what motivated the 24-year-old. The shooter, identified in the foreign press as Michal Oksinski, killed six people in the southern Polish city and is believed to have murdered three family members earlier that day. Investigators said on Sunday they had found no letter or other document explaining the Polish man’s actions, either on him or in his car. “We’ll see what the examination of his phone and electronic devices seized from his family home reveals,” prosecutor Eryk Stasielak said. Justice Minister and Prosecutor General Waldemar Zurek added that investigators had obtained “certain symbols associated with the suspect” and “some evidence that sheds more light on this whole tragedy”, but declined to elaborate, citing ongoing investigation. At an evening press conference on Saturday, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said that, according to preliminary findings, the gunmen had acted alone, held “very, very radical views” and was “fascinated by far-right ideologies”. Prosecutors, however, said on Sunday that searches had uncovered no evidence of active political or extremist involvement. Kierwinski’s remarks drew criticism from right-wing lawmakers, and on Sunday he clarified that the motive was still under investigation. The attack, Poland’s deadliest mass shooting since World War II, took place shortly after 15:00 on Saturday, when the gunman drove onto Krakow’s historic Main Market Square, normally closed to traffic, and opened fire on pedestrians from his car. Wearing a bulletproof vest, military-style helmet and tactical equipment, he sent people fleeing into nearby restaurants, cafés and building entrances. The six fatalities were: three Polish women aged 47, 53 and 61, a Polish man of about 50, a 32-year-old British citizen and a 51-year-old Austrian woman. Fifteen others were wounded, including five foreign nationals from Austria, Portugal, Germany, Britain and Russia. Police responded within minutes. The first emergency call came at 15:00, with municipal guards arriving within two minutes and police firing their first shots at the attacker by 15:03. Officers exchanged fire with the shooter before disabling him. Two policemen were wounded in the exchange, and one remained in serious condition on Sunday, although officials said his health had improved. Both are being hailed in Poland as heroes. “In the face of the tragedy in Krakow, we saw the best in people: the courage of police officers, the dedication of paramedics and the selfless help of ordinary people who rushed to save others,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X. Family killings and firearms Following the attack, police discovered three bodies at the shooter’s family home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski: his parents and 21-year-old sister Magdalena, who studied painting at Krakow’s Academy of Fine Arts and had returned home for the weekend. Investigators believe he killed them before driving more than 160 kilometres to Krakow in his father’s car. Two family cats were also shot dead. The gunman worked as a turner at a local refractory materials plant, had no criminal record and was not known to the police. He held a valid firearms license and used a civilian version of an AR-15 rifle in the Krakow attack. His father, a sport-shooting enthusiast, was also a licensed gun owner. Between them, father and son held permits for 11 firearms. Investigators are examining which weapons were used in the attacks. Authorities believe the gunman acted alone. Mass shootings are exceptionally rare in Poland, and Saturday’s killings were unprecedented in scale in the country’s postwar history. Other recent attacks were of political background and include the 2010 shooting at a Law and Justice party office in Lodz, which left one person dead, and the fatal stabbing of Gdansk mayor Pawel Adamowicz at a charity event in 2019. The Krakow attack follows three unrelated stabbing incidents at schools across Poland, which took place within the space of one week in October. It also comes amid growing civilian gun ownership, with registered firearms more than doubling over the past decade to exceed 400,000 in 2025. A report ublished in May by Poland’s Supreme Audit Office (NIK) warned of serious gaps in firearms oversight, including the absence of mandatory periodic medical and psychological assessments for people holding sporting, hunting and collecting licences, which are generally issued indefinitely. Poland declared two days of national mourning on Sunday and Monday. In Krakow, the hejnal – the trumpet call played every hour from the tower of St Mary’s Basilica at the Main Square, which is one of the symbols of the city – fell silent for the first time in 87 years.