Two days after a gunman armed with an assault rifle opened fire in Kraków’s historic Main Square, killing six people and wounding more than a dozen others, Polish outlets are now casting doubt on the Interior Ministry’s initial claim that the attacker came from the far-right political spectrum. In fact, he may have belonged to the ultra-left.
The 24-year-old Polish national, identified in local media as Michał Oksiński, from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, drove into the square at 3 p.m. on Nov. 7, and fired an AR-15-style assault rifle at random victims. Police shot and wounded him during a subsequent confrontation and he later died in hospital. Later, the bodies of his parents and sister were found by police in the family home. Authorities have treated the attack as a terrorist incident.
On Saturday, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński stated to reporters that the suspect held “very, very radical” views and was “fascinated by far-right ideologies.” He also described Michał Oksiński as an ultranationalist. Those remarks were widely repeated by international outlets.Despite these claims, numerous Polish outlets, including mainstream ones, are reporting evidence that sharply contests this initial assessment.
🔥🚨 JUST IN — Polish police confirm that 5 people were killed in today’s suspected terror attack in Krakow, Poland.
A video shows a police officer shooting the attacker several times. The same officer was also shot and wounded during the confrontation.
Authorities have confirmed the five fatalities from the incident. The attack remains under investigation as a suspected terrorist event. https://t.co/lEORHW6XKk
— The Patriot Oasis™ (@ThePatriotOasis) November 7, 2026On Sunday, Polish outlet Super Express reported, citing several unofficial sources, that investigators had found no evidence linking Oksiński to any right-wing political party or ultra-right organizations. The paper said intelligence had examined his internet and social-media activity and discovered “no trace connecting the man with the extreme right.”
However, the Super Express article is very short and the information comes from an unnamed source.
The most explosive report comes from Polish outlet Rzeczpospolita, which cites a Kraków police source who said material recovered so far suggested the attacker “may be ultra left-wing,” including photographs of him with Antifa and rainbow flags.
Screenshots of these alleged photos have been widely circulating on social media, including X, before Oksiński’s account was deleted just hours after the attack. These images show him posing with a rainbow flag while wearing a gas mask and military-style equipment. There were also posts involving him mocking Christianity and Pope John Paul II.
One of the most widely shared posts came from a Polish account that featured the alleged photos.
“Michał Oksiński is just a lefty, an antifa thug and an anarcho-communist. He mocked Christianity at every turn. The government wants you to believe he’s a right-winger. The only question is, who deleted the attacker’s two Facebook accounts, given that both his parents and his sister were found dead in the apartment,” the X account wrote.
Michał Oksiński to zwykły lewak, antifiarz i anarchokomunista. Na każdym kroku wyśmiewał chrześcijaństwo. Rząd chce żebyś uwierzył, że to prawak. Pytanie tylko, kto usunął dwa konta zamachowca na Facebooku, skoro jego dwoje rodziców i siostrę znaleziono martwych w mieszkaniu? https://t.co/thVuPMKLtn
— Edgar Korona (@Edgar_Korona) November 7, 2026A friend of Oksiński was also interviewed by Polish media who said that he had no far-right beliefs.
Nie no to jest genialne.
Przyjaciele zamachowca z Krakowa Michala O. Potwierdzają, że nie mogą mówić, aby miał poglądy prawicowe…
Brawo Kierwiński!
Cały świat gada, że w Polsce zamachu dokonał faszysta.
I będą jakieś przeprosiny? Sprostowanie?
NIE. https://t.co/yN2JqgY1pW
— Jan Molski 🇵🇱 (@JanMolski) November 8, 2026Importantly, Kraków Mayor Łukasz Gibała has also challenged the claims of Interior Minister Kierwiński, saying he had no idea what evidence he was relying on to make his claims about a far-right connection. He said he rejected attempts to tie the massacre to a political ideology and fuel polarization in society. Opposition Law and Justice (PiS) MP Przemysław Czarnek has directed pointed criticism of Kierwiński, stating there will be political consequences if he actively tried to mislead the public.
So far, the alleged Facebook screenshots remain unverified by official police sources. Authorities indicated that so far, no manifesto has been recovered and that examination of the suspect’s electronic devices continues.
