The District Prosecutor’s Office in Lubin has concluded the investigation into the murder in Brunów in May 2024. It was established that the perpetrator—now 20-year-old Bartosz Ż.—did not shoot the victim accidentally, as he initially claimed.
Investigators:
In April 2024, Bartosz Ż. came to Brunów to stay with his grandmother and her partner, whom he called his grandfather, and to help run their business. The victim—the grandmother’s partner’s son—also lived in the same house. Relations between him and Bartosz Ż. were tense. The victim abused alcohol, after which he was malicious and intrusive toward the accused. Bartosz Ż. found this difficult to bear. In messages to his mother and sister, he complained about the victim’s behavior, wrote that he was afraid of him and that the man would “get what was coming to him”.
About a week before the incident, the victim began drinking more than usual after his employment contract was terminated, which created even greater tension between him and Bartosz Ż.
At that point, the accused took the Walther P38 pistol belonging to the victim and hid it in his room.
On 22 May 2024, during the night, an argument broke out between the men in the house’s kitchen. During it, the victim went to the workshop, and the accused followed him. Before that, however, he took the pistol hidden in his room. Prosecutor’s Office: – In the workshop, Bartosz Ż. fired two accurate shots at the victim’s head from close range, causing his immediate death.
The accused then woke his grandmother and the victim’s father. He told them his version of the accidental shooting and went with them to the workshop. After making sure that the victim was dead, Bartosz Ż. called his mother and sister. He himself called the emergency number only at around 5:00 a.m., after his mother had arrived at the scene. Investigators: – The aforementioned person told the operator that the shooting had occurred accidentally while playing with the gun.
– The forensic medical experts concluded that the cause of the victim’s sudden and violent death was gunshot wounds to the head and cervical spine. The injuries were caused by two shots fired from close range, at different angles, from a short firearm, into the victim’s head. At the time of death, the deceased was intoxicated and had 2.07 per mille of ethyl alcohol in his blood—explains Liliana Łukasiewicz, press spokesperson for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Legnica.
Bartosz Ż. was detained. He was charged with murder with direct intent under Article 148 § 1 of the Penal Code. He was remanded in custody. Spokesperson:
From the outset, the aforementioned person did not deny that he had shot the victim. During the first interrogations, however, he claimed that the shots had been fired accidentally. The victim was supposedly teaching him to shoot. They went to the workshop for that purpose, where the gun, when he took it in his hands, “went off by itself”. In subsequent statements, he also said that although he had written to his mother that the victim irritated him and that he had had enough of him, these were temporary emotions that passed and that, generally, he did not harbor any lasting grudge against the victim.
Only when giving evidence for the fourth time did Bartosz Ż. provide an account of the facts consistent with the findings made during the inspection of the crime scene, the autopsy and the ballistic expert opinion (shots fired from close range). He stated that he had taken the gun with him when going to the workshop because the victim had allegedly said that he was going to get an axe. When he entered the room, the victim allegedly walked decisively toward him. He thought the man had something in his hand. He fired out of fear. The victim was not holding any dangerous tool.
The investigation established that Bartosz Ż. was not under the influence of alcohol, narcotics or psychotropic substances when he committed the act. After examining him, psychiatric experts determined that the perpetrator was sane. He showed no depressive symptoms or suicidal thoughts. He is fit to stand trial.
The accused had a good reputation among his family and neighbors. He had no previous convictions.
For the murder, Bartosz Ż. faces 10 to 30 years in prison or even life imprisonment. The case will be heard by the District Court in Legnica.