A shooting incident in Krakow’s main square on November 7 resulted in six deaths, according to Polish authorities. The suspect, identified as 24-year-old factory worker Michal Oksinski, died in a hospital on Monday after being apprehended by police minutes following the attack in the historic city square, a location frequented by tourists.
Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek stated on Tuesday that investigators found evidence pointing to right-wing extremist motivations behind the violence. Among the items discovered in the suspect’s possession were a Gadsden flag, a symbol historically associated with US civil war imagery that has been adopted by far-right movements in recent years. Authorities also located a silencer in the vehicle used during the shooting.
Zurek indicated that the suspect had accessed websites containing information about Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian white-supremacist who carried out a deadly attack in 2011. Additionally, the bodies of the suspect’s father, mother, and sister were discovered at their family residence on Saturday, with officials suggesting they were also likely killed by Oksinski.
The suspect’s ideological motivations have become a contentious political issue domestically. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski attributed the attack to far-right ideology within hours of the incident, prompting criticism from the nationalist opposition Law and Justice party. Party leader Jaroslaw Kaczynski characterized Kierwinski’s statement as a “blatant lie,” while right-wing lawmaker Michal Wojcik expressed outrage at Justice Minister Zurek’s recent comments to international media. Kierwinski maintained on Tuesday that he stood by his earlier statements while awaiting full investigative findings.
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