Poland mass shooting assailant dies in hospital, police say 

The gunman who killed six people and wounded more than a dozen others in central Krakow last week has died in hospital, police said.

“We inform you that the perpetrator of the tragic events died this morning in the hospital,” police wrote in a post on X early Monday.

The assailant, a 24-year-old Polish man, was shot by police officers and arrested within minutes ‌after he opened fire at people at Krakow’s historic main square from his car on Saturday.

The location is a major tourist destination in the country’s second-largest city, and several foreigners were among the dead and wounded.

Investigators also found the bodies of the assailant’s sister, mother and father at the man’s family home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, a city northeast of Krakow. They likely died from gunshot wounds.

Prosecutors on Sunday opened an investigation into an “act of terrorism” and Poland’s interior minister has said the suspect was fascinated by “far-right ideologies”.

The man carried out the attack in full military fatigues and wore “many different emblems” that investigators have “partially examined ⁠and interpreted”, an interior ministry spokesperson told Polish media.

She added that the patches are associated with “various motifs” and are currently being analysed by specialists.

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 United Kingdom and a woman from Austria were also among the dead.

The two police officers who stopped the gunman, in actions authorities hailed as heroic, remain in hospital. They were both conscious by Sunday afternoon.

Five foreigners are among the wounded. They come from the UK, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria.

Krakow attracts millions of tourists per year, and city’s Main Square is a major tourist attraction that is often bustling with activity.

On Sunday, mourners laid candles and flowers alongside bullet holes at the square.