Ostrołęka school attacker charged with nine counts, court weighs three-month arrest

Attack at the school

On Wednesday, 7 October, a 19-year-old pupil of the graduating class entered Zespół Szkół Zawodowych nr 4 in Ostrołęka and attacked students and teachers, according to investigators. The attack took place before noon. Police accounts list a knife, a machete and a hatchet among the items he carried. Nine people were wounded: five students, two teachers and two bystanders, according to the prosecutor's office. The injured were taken to hospitals in Łomża and Ostrołęka, and their lives are not in danger, although one teacher was still in hospital at the time of reporting.

The backpack and the detention

Investigators say the suspect left a backpack in a computer lab where a teacher and eleven pupils were present. When smoke began to rise from it, one of the people in the room threw it out of the window. Police bomb technicians secured the backpack, which contained homemade explosive material. Prosecutors said on Thursday that the backpack had been detonated by bomb technicians from the Radom Voivodeship Police Headquarters.

According to information we received, it was an explosive device with high destructive power.

Officers detained the suspect several dozen minutes after the attack, near the city beach roughly 400 to 500 metres from the school. He had injured himself and was taken to hospital, and after treatment he was placed in a police cell. On Wednesday evening police searched three locations, including the apartment he shared with his mother, and found a precursor that could be used to make explosive material. Seven people from one stairwell were evacuated while the apartment was searched, and they were allowed to return home after the operation ended.

Charges and the court hearing

On Thursday, 8 October, the suspect was brought to the Regional Prosecutor's Office in Ostrołęka, where he was presented with nine charges. Among them are attempted murder of several people, attempted murder of many people using explosives with a motive deserving particular condemnation, threats, and bringing about a direct danger of loss of life or health to many people. The explosives-related attempted murder charge carries a possible life sentence. He admitted guilt and apologized to the families of the injured.

The suspect gave an explanation and admitted guilt, but this explanation does not relate to the substance of the case, it does not address the acts that were presented to him.

Prosecutors have asked the court for three months of temporary arrest for the 19-year-old, and the court has 24 hours to rule on the request. The hearing began on Friday at 16:00 at the district court in Ostrołęka on ul. Mazowiecka. Officers escorted him into the building in a special group, with his hands and legs shackled and a protective helmet on his head. The court's decision had not been announced at the time of reporting.

Proceedings and open questions

Prosecutors said 23 injured parties are involved in the proceedings. Asked whether the suspect acted with others, Łukasiewicz said that "for now it appears that Jakub Z. acted alone." What exactly he told investigators has not been disclosed, because the spokeswoman said his explanations did not concern the substance of the charges. Investigators are also examining the circumstances in which the precursor material was kept at the apartment and whether it is linked to the events at the school.