Murder of a preschooler in Poznań. “He laughed and said nothing happened to the boy.”
The elderly man who killed a 5-year-old boy in Poznań was not well known by local residents. In an interview with Onet, they said that he was behaving suspiciously just before the tragedy.
On Wednesday, October 18, 71-year-old Zbysław C. attacked a group of preschoolers and killed a 5-year-old boy. Children dressed in reflective T-shirts went to the nearby post office to send postcards on World Post Day. The tragedy occurred in front of the entrance to one of the tenement houses in the Łazarza housing estate.
— I've been living in Łazarz for years, and I didn't recognize this man by his appearance. I heard him say he was going to kill everyone. I turned around and saw him making a movement with his hand. It turned out he had a knife. He hit the boy and then moved away, no longer attacking anyone directly. He laughed and said that nothing happened to the boy and that he would live - one of the witnesses described the course of the event.
The man told how he moved the children away to protect them from another attack. He talked about the quick reaction of passers-by and incapacitating the attacker. Remondis employees, who were collecting deaths, and a policewoman who was not on duty at the time got involved. One of the men - Grzegorz Konopczyński - kicked the 71-year-old from behind while he was talking to the officer.
After knocking down the knifeman, the gun was knocked out of his hand. In addition to the bloody knife, they also found a penknife hidden in his pocket. A Remondis employee drew attention to the fact that a 5-year-old girl was trying to be resuscitated by a kindergarten teacher. Everything happened to the sound of crying children. After a while, an ambulance arrived and spent another hour trying to save the boy.
A 5-year-old boy with a stab wound to the chest was taken to hospital in a very serious condition. Doctors emphasized that they had no chance to save the child, who ultimately died in the facility. Not only eyewitnesses, but also parents of other children who attended kindergarten No. 48, spoke with tears about the whole tragedy. - He was a very nice boy, he was with the little ones, now he was with the middle school children. We are shocked, around 10 o'clock the children went for a walk, and then such an action... - said one of the parents.
When questioned by Onet, Mrs. Martyna emphasized that the 71-year-old was "chased away by other bums." - He's been hanging around here since morning. He approached his friend who was smoking a cigarette near "Żabka". He argued that he shouldn't smoke because cigarettes kill. He said he would kill her. Then he left, "sneered" at the caretaker, and after a few minutes he attacked the preschoolers, she said.
The police informed that Zbysław C. had no previous criminal record. – We do not know the motive, nor do we know anything about the family or social relationships between the perpetrator and the attacked boy. The man was detained and will undergo tests that will determine whether he can stay in the detention center. This is a standard procedure, said Andrzej Borowiak, spokesman for the Greater Poland police.
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