Kraków Police Form Special Team to Investigate Saturday’s Main Square Attack

Chief Inspector Artur Bednarek, the Voivodeship Police Commander in Kraków, on Tuesday appointed a special group of officers to thoroughly establish how Saturday’s attack on Kraków’s Main Square unfolded and to determine the attacker’s motives, Lesser Poland police announced.

“The investigation into Saturday’s attack on the Main Square in Kraków is being conducted by a special group made up of the most experienced officers of the Lesser Poland police. It includes officers from the operational, criminal investigation and forensic divisions. Their task is to reconstruct the course of events in detail and determine the attacker’s motives,” Lesser Poland police spokeswoman Deputy Inspector Katarzyna Cisło told PAP.

She noted that such teams are appointed in extraordinary situations, when a case is especially complex and has many strands, and requires the involvement of highly experienced officers.

“The situation is such that the best of the best have to look into it. They are certainly officers from all the operational divisions, the criminal investigation unit, the forensic laboratory, and the Criminal Division. There are also units we don’t talk about, classified ones, that help us operationally,” Deputy Inspector Cisło said.

The special group includes officers of the Voivodeship Police Headquarters in Kraków with the longest service records and the greatest experience. They are to analyze the evidence gathered and all the circumstances of the incident.

The spokeswoman explained that the investigation is being conducted by the National Prosecutor’s Office and covers two strands. The first concerns the killing of three people in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski; the second, Saturday’s attack in Kraków.

“The Voivodeship Police Headquarters in Kraków has been entrusted with an investigation under Article 148, Paragraph 3 of the Criminal Code, meaning we are talking about the aggravated form of the murder of multiple people, in connection with Article 115, Paragraph 20, meaning it is an act of a terrorist nature,” Cisło said.

The attack took place Saturday on the Main Square. A 24-year-old man drove a car onto the square and then opened fire with an automatic weapon at random people. Six people were killed and 16 were injured, including two police officers and the attacker, who died in a hospital early Monday. Earlier, police officers had found the bodies of his parents and sister in the family’s apartment in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.

The investigation is being conducted by the Lesser Poland branch office of the National Prosecutor’s Office. (PAP)