Kraków Gunman's Political Affiliation Remains Unclear Despite Social Media Evidence

Poland’s left-leaning Tusk government and international media initially labeled Kraków gunman Michał Oksiński as far-right, but prosecutors found no evidence of a right-wing affiliation. Images circulating on social media, including Facebook accounts deleted after the attack, appear to show Oksiński posing with an LGBT Pride flag and mocking the pope. Oksiński, 24, drove a Subaru onto Kraków’s Main Market Square and opened fire at random, killing six people and wounding 15. Police officers Jakub Kulik and Artur Morański chased him from the square, and both were shot in the exchange of fire. Oksiński died in hospital on Nov. 9 after three operations. Before driving to Kraków, Oksiński shot his father, mother, and sister in their family flat in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Investigators found two AR-15 rifles, two pistols, and several hundred rounds of ammunition in his car and on his person. In all, they seized 11 firearms. Oksiński’s motive remains under investigation, with prosecutors stating there was no evidence tying him to any particular political orientation. Social media images attributed to the gunman suggest a different political orientation, including a photo of him posing with an LGBT Pride flag. Other photos and posts circulating on social media claim to show the gunman marching with left-wing demonstrators. The authenticity and attribution of the circulating social media material remain unverified, and police and prosecutors have not commented on it. Accounts from people who knew him fit no political label, with a former classmate describing him as wearing black nail polish and drawing attacks on schools and swastikas in his notebooks. Residents of Ostrowiec told Kanał Zero that he wore uniforms and gas masks. A friend told TVN that he showed no right-wing tendencies. Under his military-style uniform, the gunman wore a black T-shirt printed with a green emergency-exit figure and the words “uciekłem z morawicy” (“I escaped from Morawica”), according to a photo of the clothing published by Wirtualna Polska. The security website Terroryzm.pl had reported that he appeared to wear a Falanga symbol, the green emblem of Poland’s national-radical right. The only green emblem visible in the published clothing photo is the exit sign, though it is unclear whether Terroryzm.pl was referring to the same garment or image. Prosecutors are treating the attack as terrorism and are examining whether the gunman acted alone. Kraków Mayor Łukasz Gibała said that with the gunman dead, his motives may never be fully known.