A period of national mourning will be observed across Poland on Sunday and Monday following Saturday's shooting in the market square of the country's second-largest city, Krakow, that left six people dead and 16 others, including two police officers, injured.
Witnesses reported that a man drove into the square in the middle of the afternoon and opened fire from his car.
Police were on the scene in less than three minutes, and the man, variously reported as being either 24 or 25 years of age, and as yet not formally named, was arrested and remains in hospital after surgery for a gunshot wound.
Those killed in the square include four Polish citizens, one United Kingdom citizen, and one other foreign national, whose country has not yet been revealed.
On Sunday, police confirmed that three more bodies, believed to be those of the suspect's parents and sister, had been found at a property around 160 kilometers northeast of the city.
The gunman was described as wearing military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest, and Poland's Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said he was thought to have had "very radical views" and have been "fascinated by far-right ideologies".
Local police have said they are conducting an investigation into what has been described as "a terrorist offense", but regional governor Krzysztof Jan Kleczar denied earlier reports that the gunman was in some way connected to the military.
"This is not true," he said. "This man was not a soldier, he was not associated with the Territorial Defense Forces … we know that his father legally owned a dozen or so weapons. He was also the owner of a weapon."
Police reported that the suspect had a semi-automatic gun similar in design to an AR-15 rifle, as well as a pistol, and photographs from the scene show the weapon had an optical sight.
A number of other weapons and ammunition were also found in his car, which was checked for explosives and found not to have been booby-trapped.
It is believed the suspect had a firearms permit, and did not have a criminal record.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the two injured police officers, named as senior constables Jakub Kulik and Artur Moranski, were "true heroes", and Kierwinski said they had "acted heroically".
"They fulfilled their duty to the public and their country in an exemplary manner," Kierwinski said. "The police prevented a much larger massacre that could have otherwise occurred. They fired shots at the attacker just three minutes after receiving the report."
julian@mail.chinadailyuk.com
