Polish prosecutors have classified the mass shooting in Kraków on November 7 as a terrorist offence. Investigators have also established a link between the attack in Kraków, which left six people dead, and the killing of three people in the town of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
The investigation was launched on November 8 by the Małopolska branch of the National Prosecutor’s Office’s Department for Organised Crime and Corruption, which handles cases involving terrorist offences.
The investigation covers two incidents. The first concerns the shooting deaths of six people in Kraków and the attempted murder of other people, including police officers.
“This act is classified as a terrorist offence,” the National Prosecutor’s Office of Poland said.
Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek explained that, under the legal classification, the attacker acted with the aim of seriously intimidating a large number of people. On this basis, the offence was classified as terrorist in nature.
The second incident concerns the shooting deaths of three people in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski on November 7.
“The available evidence indicates that these acts were committed by the same person,” the prosecutor’s office said.
According to the minister, each of these offences carries a penalty of up to life imprisonment.
Prosecutors are conducting investigative activities in Kraków and Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, including inspections of the crime scenes.
As previously reported, on November 7, a 24-year-old man opened fire on people at Kraków’s Main Market Square. Six people were killed and another 16 were hospitalized, including two police officers and the suspect himself.
Later, the bodies of the suspect’s parents and younger sister, all with gunshot wounds, were found at the family’s home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.