The incident occurred on Friday, 17 November, in the late morning. As Julita Witnik, head of the Municipal Social Welfare Centre in Gromadka, based in Wierzbowa, told us:
(…) a resident of the municipality attempted to enter the premises of the Municipal Social Welfare Centre in Gromadka, based in Wierzbowa. He smashed the panes in the entrance door with a bricklaying hammer, shouting, “I’ll kill you all, I’ll deal with you.”
He caused a disturbance, using profanities. This was not the first attack by the man on the Centre’s staff.
GOPS employees reacted immediately and reported the incident to the police. Police officers arrived at the scene without delay and used direct coercive measures (handcuffs). The police called an ambulance, which took the dangerous man away.
The director concludes:
It is a miracle that, in this case, the man did not get into the employees’ rooms and that no tragedy occurred, while the police officers responded effectively and immediately.
The incident once again showed how difficult and dangerous work at Social Welfare Centres is.
Bolesławiec police told us that the 46-year-old was taken to a specialist hospital.