On Monday, the BBN chief Bartosz Grodecki said on X that the officers, senior constables Jakub Kulik and Artur Morański, were honoured with Officer's Crosses of the Order of Polonia Restituta for outstanding service in maintaining public order and security, as well as exceptional dedication and courage.
Nawrocki visited both officers in hospitals in Kraków. Both sustained serious injuries in an exchange of fire with the attacker and emerged from a coma on Sunday.
At the officers' request, a video call was arranged so they could speak to each other. Dr Hubert Hymczak, head of the Clinical Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at Narutowicz Hospital, said that both patrol partners had been keen to find out how the other was doing.
Dr Łukasz Curyło, acting deputy medical director and head of the hospital's Urology and Oncology Department, said on Monday that the most seriously injured officer was in a stable condition. He was conscious, communicating coherently and taking part in rehabilitation with his wife.
Doctors said they were cautiously optimistic, citing the officer's youth and physical strength.
The officer was taken directly to Narutowicz Hospital after the shooting and underwent a complex operation involving multiple organs, which lasted around 11 hours and ended at 3am on Sunday.
A team of thoracic surgeons from nearby John Paul II Specialist Hospital joined the operation to treat gunshot wounds to his chest and lung. Orthopaedic surgeons treated a wound to his right forearm.
Jakub Kulik, 24, works in the intelligence and patrol unit of Kraków's First Police Station, which covers the Old Town. He is also a volunteer firefighter with OSP Leszczyny and has served in the unit for about 10 years. He is married and has a child.
Artur Morański, 27, has served in the police since 2024, first at the Seventh Police Station in Nowa Huta and, since June, at the First Police Station in Kraków. He played football for a local team for five years and served as a lector at the local church for many years. He is married.
Two other injured people were also operated on at the hospital: a man with a gunshot wound near his left upper arm and a woman who had bullet fragments removed from the area around her neck.
The woman was discharged on Monday. The man treated for the upper-arm injury was expected to leave hospital on Tuesday and continue treatment as an outpatient.
The hospital director said staff from all levels had volunteered to come in almost immediately, with the number of people offering help exceeding the hospital's needs. Three surgical teams were able to begin operations at the same time.
Six people were killed and 16 injured when a 24-year-old Polish man, identified by prosecutors as Michał Oksiński, drove into the market square on Saturday and opened fire on passers-by.
The suspect was shot by police and taken into custody. He died in hospital early on Monday.
(sp)
Source: PAP