Developing: Three Bodies Found at Krakow Suspect's Home

Police found three bodies at the home of the suspect in Krakow's mass shooting, widening an investigation into an attack that killed six people and injured 16 on November 7. ^[2][3]

The dead at the house were two women and a man. Prime Minister Donald Tusk said there were strong indications that they were the suspect's immediate family. The home is about 200 kilometres from Krakow. ^[2][3]

Tusk called the shooting in the city's Main Market Square terrorism. The suspect, a 25-year-old Polish man whom police shot and wounded, remained in hospital after surgery, according to the BBC and Associated Press. ^[2][3]

The Daily Inference reported on November 7 that police said the man fired from his car before officers wounded him, and that investigators had not established why he attacked. The discovery at his home adds a second location to the inquiry, while Tusk's public description gives the government's assessment of the shooting greater weight.

Explaining his use of the word terrorism, Tusk said, "that's what we have to call this cruel attack on people's lives here in Krakow." ^[2]

Three deaths beyond the square

The discovery at the house raises questions separate from the sequence already described by police in Krakow. Tusk's assessment of a likely family relationship was provisional, rather than a confirmed identification of the three dead. ^[2][3]

Their identities, how and when they died, and whether their deaths were connected to the shooting have not been established. Nor have investigators established the gunman's motive or any accomplices, supporters or organisational links. ^[2][3]

The six people killed in the square and the three found at the home therefore remain separate counts. Adding them into a single attack toll would assign a connection and a cause of death that authorities have yet to establish.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said everything suggested that the suspect was fascinated by far-right ideologies and held ultra-nationalist views. That is an official assessment of his beliefs, not a confirmed explanation of what drove the shooting. ^[2][3]

The government has put ideology at the centre of its public account. Investigators now face the task of establishing what evidence supports that assessment and whether those beliefs explain the choice of place, victims or method. A description of someone's views cannot, by itself, answer those questions.

About three minutes of shooting

Police said the gunman drove onto the Main Market Square and fired randomly at people from his car. The attack lasted about three minutes, according to the police account carried by the BBC. ^[2][3]

He wore military-style clothing and used a long gun, Krakow police said, according to AP. Officers also found other weapons and ammunition in the vehicle. Police confronted him and shot and wounded him. ^[3]

The BBC described shattered shop windows and belongings scattered across the square after people fled. ^[2]

Four women and two men were killed. Three of those who died were Polish and one was British. The nationalities of the other two had not been identified in the BBC's account. ^[2]

Two police officers were among the injured, and one was critically hurt. The injury count stood at 16 in the later figures carried by France 24 and AP. ^[1][2][3]

That total should not be read as a count of gunshot wounds. AP said it was not immediately clear how many of the injured had been struck by gunfire. ^[3]

A city's busiest public space

The Main Market Square is a major tourist destination. Krakow receives about 15 million visitors a year, most of whom pass through the square, according to AP. ^[3]

The presence of both Polish and British people among the dead gives the attack an immediate reach beyond Poland. But the police description of random firing does not establish that the gunman selected people by nationality. ^[2][3]

The square's prominence also makes the question of location important. A crowded, widely visited place offers access to many people. Whether that was the suspect's reason for going there is a question for the investigation, rather than a conclusion supplied by the setting.

The suspect remains in hospital after surgery, and it is not yet known when investigators will be able to question him. ^[2][3]