A man who grabbed a policeman's gun and shot him several times in 2002 will appear in court again. The prosecutor's office charged the 41-year-old with murder in connection with the fatal shooting of a man, which took place last year on one of the streets in Żyrardów (Mazowieckie).
At the beginning of October 2023, early in the morning, passers-by found an unconscious man with gunshot wounds on the sidewalk at Kilińskiego Street. Despite long resuscitation, the injured person died.
The prosecutor's office has completed the investigation and sent an indictment to court against two people accused of murder. For the sake of the proceedings, investigators do not disclose the details of the accusation.
Shots from close range
According to our findings, the victim had two gunshot wounds, and the bullets penetrated through him, which may mean that the shots were fired from close range.
A few days after the murder, shots were fired again in Żyrardów. The police used weapons during the dynamic action, but no one was injured. Two men were detained: a 31-year-old and a 40-year-old. Both were charged with murder at Kilińskiego Street and were taken into custody.
The older of the accused is Sebastian S. According to our information, the man has already been convicted once of attempted murder, also using a firearm.
He beat up a policeman and shot him in the head
On the night of May 31 to June 1, 2002, two policemen were driving their off-duty colleague away. In front of the block of flats on Kapitana Pałac Street in Żyrardów, where a policewoman lived, a group of people allegedly threw bricks at their car. The policemen were pulled out of the vehicle and severely beaten. The woman managed to escape to the apartment and call for help.
During the attack, the attacker grabbed the service revolver from one of the men and shot three times, wounding the officer in the head, chest and stomach. One of the bullets got stuck in the spine. The seriously injured 30-year-old sergeant first underwent surgery at a hospital in Żyrardów, and later was taken to a hospital in Warsaw.
The shot officer returned to duty after long rehabilitation. He worked in the police until he retired.
The appeals court reduced the sentence
Within a few hours of the attack, the officers detained eight attackers, aged 19 to 27, and recovered a police revolver. In December 2003, in the District Court in Płock, those accused of assaulting police officers were sentenced. The most serious charge – attempted murder – was committed against Sebastian S., then almost 20 years old.
The court found the man guilty of shooting a policeman “with the intention of directly taking his life.” Additionally, Sebastian S. was convicted of taking the policeman's weapon, hiding the other perpetrators of the attack in the apartment, and covering up the traces of the incident.
The court sentenced him to a total of 12 years' imprisonment. Sebastian S.'s defense attorney appealed against the verdict.
In September 2004, the Court of Appeal in Warsaw, applying Article 60 of the Penal Code regarding “extraordinary leniency”, reduced Sebastian S.'s sentence from 12 to 8 years of imprisonment.
For the murder at Kilińskiego Street in October 2023, Sebastian S. and the other accused man face life imprisonment.
Main photo source: Artur Węgrzynowicz/tvnwarszawa.pl