Gunman with far-right views who killed 6 people in a Polish city square dies in hospital, police say

KRAKOW, Poland (AP) — The 24-year-old with far-right views who killed six people and wounded 15 others in a shooting in a Polish city square died in the hospital Monday, police said.

The attacker , wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest, drove into the Main Square in Krakow’s Old Town and opened fire. The location is a major tourist destination in Poland’s second-largest city, and several foreigners were among the dead and wounded.

Police said the man — who has not yet been officially named — initially continued firing even after he was wounded by police officers. He had been in critical condition since the attack and had been operated on multiple times.

He died at 4:30 a.m. in the hospital, authorities said.

“We are first of all investigating if he was inspired by anyone, if someone helped him,” Eryk Stasielak from the Krakow branch of the national prosecutor's office told the AP. “We have secured his electronic devices and we will try to open them and get to the contents.”

Stasielak said prosecutors were also trying to understand how the attacker was able to come into possession of so many weapons and so much ammunition. He said it was too early to comment on the ideology of the man and several avenues were being investigated. Autopsies of the victims were being conducted starting Monday, he said.

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 U.K. and a woman from Austria were also among the dead.

Authorities said on Monday morning that all wounded were in stable condition. The police officer who ultimately stopped the attacker remains in a serious state.

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

Authorities also found the bodies of the assailant’s sister, mother and father at the man’s family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a city about 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Krakow. They likely died from gunshot wounds.

On Sunday night, mourners laid candles and flowers alongside the bullet holes in Krakow after the city’s central square turned into a site of bloodshed and grief .

“I come here so as not to get caught up in a spiral of fear and anxiety,” resident Maciej Sikorski told The Associated Press from the square. “In a situation like this, it’s all too easy to stop living — to start being afraid instead, and just vegetate. That is something I really want to avoid.”

Prosecutors said Sunday they opened an investigation into the murder and attempted murder of numerous people, including police officers, with the act “constituting a terrorist offense.”