The Shadow of Breivik: Why Magdalena's Light Poem Did Not Stop the Bloody Whirlpool

The digital footprint of 24-year-old Krakow shooter Michał Oksiński has become a map of the decay of his mind.

The prosecutor's office and Poland's Internal Security Agency (ABW) accessed the shooter's hard drive, discovering the roots of pure hatred there. Although investigators found no explicit manifestos authored by Michał himself, his entire online history turned out to be a step-by-step guide to the Krakow massacre.

On November 7, 2026, a mass shooting and terrorist attack took place in Krakow, perpetrated by 24-year-old Michał Oksiński. On the eve of the attack, the perpetrator shot and killed his entire family—his father, mother, and 21-year-old sister—in their apartment in Ostrowiec Świętokrziski. Afterward, he stole his father's legal arsenal from a sports safe and went to Krakow. There, he opened indiscriminate fire on passersby and cars, wounding several people, before sustaining fatal injuries during a brutal police apprehension, later dying in the hospital.

In his browser, ghosts of the past came alive: page after page, he swallowed the 1,500-page manifesto of Norwegian monster Anders Behring Breivik, "2083: A European Declaration of Independence," analyzing activity logs, ammunition procurement, and the masking of intentions in detail. Alongside it loomed the shadow of American "incel" (an internet subculture of single men who feel deep resentment toward society due to romantic failures) Elliot Roger, who once left a bloody trail in Santa Barbara. Michał's modus operandi mirrored Roger's scenario with eerie precision: first, a quiet execution within his own walls, and then a hunt for living targets.

Among this digital debris, a yellow Gadsden flag with a snake was found—a bloody symbol of right-wing populism and American radicals. And in school, his classmates remembered childish doodles in his notebooks: gallows, swastikas, and comic strips about a school attack. At the time, these were written off as childish oddities, but instead, they nurtured a monster who operated according to the playbooks of internet cults.

The Arsenal Behind Quiet Doors: The article details how the family lived as "ghosts" in Ostrowiec Świętokrziski while hiding 7 to 11 legally owned firearms, including a massive safe. The father, Janusz, was a sports shooting club member, while Michał spent his time isolated, eventually packing his father's weapons into his car trunk after killing his family.

Flawed Gun Laws: The tragedy exposes major legal and medical gaps in Poland's gun ownership system ("one-time background check for life"), where psychiatric evaluations are only required initially, leaving no mechanism to monitor psychological deterioration without criminal triggers.

Magdalena’s Light vs. Darkness: The piece contrasts the shooter with his younger sister, Magdalena Oksiński—a talented 21-year-old artist and writer, winner of numerous literary and art awards—whose bright life and poetry ("I Was There") stood in stark contrast to the darkness and hatred of her killer brother.

Read more in the Ukrainian edition....