Educational only

Student Life and University Environment:

Despite long-standing depression and thoughts of death, Kozák maintained strong academic performance.

Kozák noted that studying at the Faculty of Arts was one of the few things that gave him a sense of satisfaction and purpose.

Kozák likely chose history out of personal interest, though his focus on Polish history was never explained. He mentioned plans to continue his studies in Poland, though it is unclear whether he intended to.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in History and European Studies, successfully defended his thesis with an excellent grade, and received the Marian Szyjkowski Award from the Polish Institute in Prague.

At university, Kozák remained socially withdrawn. He was described by students as a quiet, unremarkable loner. Quotes: “He was a quiet guy, an introvert. He hardly talked to us”, “I vaguely remember him. He was always such an inconspicuous person who didn't interact with many people”.

Kozák spent most of his time alone at his computer after starting university. He may have lived in a student dormitory for a time, but later returned to his parents’ home during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Employment and Workplace Experience:

Kozák worked at an airport for over two years alongside his father and sister, as a terminal service assistant.

He reportedly received positive evaluations: he was responsible, diligent, had no disciplinary issues, and showed no aggressive behavior.

Mostly colleagues described him as restless, and some suspected he might be autistic, referring to his unusual behavior.

In conversations at work, he mainly talked about school, books, and work, and at times about having a firearms license or about weapons.

On one occasion, Kozák brought a long gun to the airport in an unusually large backpack and showed it to a colleague after she asked about it.

Another colleague once heard him say, “I would shoot everyone in Terminal 2”.

It was noted that he regularly worked night shifts, especially in the year leading up to the crime.

Mental Health and Deterioration:

After starting university, Kozák frequently talked to his friends about ending his life. His classmates gave him a list of contacts for help, but he did not use them. As his statements continued, his friends urged him to seek psychiatric help.

Suicidal tendencies intensified during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially from spring 2022. Kozák explained that these thoughts emerged when he had a lot of free time and experienced “boredom”.

His first psychiatric appointment, attended with a friend, took place in September 2023. In total, he had four sessions and one psychological assessment.

His friend accompanied him to the session, as she knew he would not go alone. Kozák said she seemed more concerned about his condition than he was about himself.

The sessions revealed a range of issues, including suicidal and homicidal ideation, existential loss of meaning, depression, lack of socialization, and family conflict.

After four sessions with the psychiatrist and one with another psychologist, both reported that he became withdrawn and either missed or cancelled scheduled appointments.

Kozák did not disclose having a firearms license or plans to obtain one, although he had already received it in spring 2023. He also refused to name the physician (who approved his firearm license).

Over the year preceding the crime, classmates noticed that Kozák became increasingly fatigued. He complained of insufficient sleep due to night shifts at his airport job and began eating less.

According to them, he became noticeably more stressed. For example, he started smoking more heavily. Witness quote: “What struck and somewhat surprised me was that he suddenly smoked about eight cigarettes in a row, within about fifteen minutes”.

The only person Kozák appeared close to before the crime was his female friend. In the final months, he shared his hobby: weapons, shooting ranges, optics, and long-range shooting courses.

I think that’s partly true.

However, the fact that he kept complaining and still felt bad only means that he wasn’t able to cope with his emotions on his own and needed someone to help him regulate them.

Perhaps he was emotionally close specifically to a woman because women, often due to socialization, tend to be better emotional regulators and are more willing to listen endlessly to someone’s feelings and struggles.

To sum up, it’s really sad. I’m not defending him but unlike other attackers he wasn’t stupid or poorly adapted. He had education, work and academic success. In my opinion he looks average but I think girls tended to prefer someone more conventionally attractive or more outgoing, which is why he was deeply alone. I personally lean toward deep loneliness and a strong need for a close emotional connection as the main motive. Just someone who would simply listen and notice him. If there had been someone he had future plans with, he probably wouldn’t have done it. Sorry for the long and emotional message, I just wanted to share my thoughts.

Wow, thanks for sharing your thoughts in such a detailed way. I actually mostly agree with your point of view, but only partially and with a few points to discuss.

First of all, loneliness, lack of attention, and the absence of a sexual partner were probably not his only problems. At the very least, he seemed to have significant difficulties with emotional regulation, particularly regarding aggression. He did talk to his friends about what he was going through, but as you can see, that didn’t really help him. Opening up to someone is not the same as actually processing or sublimating those emotions.

Secondly, wanting closeness and being able to handle it are two very different things. He said he is not inclined toward emotional intimacy, and even his favorite character seems similarly emotionally frozen. I think that if he had been in a relationship while also attending therapy and genuinely wanting to change, there might have been some effect. Even if he had met a gentle, emotionally open partner who did most of the emotional work, it still might not have worked. He lacked the ability to tolerate intimacy, and it could have felt intrusive or overwhelming simply because that capacity wasn’t there yet.

Thirdly, I’ll put this very carefully. I think there’s a subtle underlying idea in your argument that someone else would have needed to come in and “fix” him. I’m not trying to challenge your perspective, because I do see the reasonable points in it, but in reality no one is supposed to be an extension of another person or take on the role of repairing someone else’s issues. So when we say if there had been someone, who exactly would that person be? You probably also understand that getting close to someone like that (and especially building a relationship with him) would already be extremely difficult, because we’re talking about a psychological structure that has been forming over many, many years.

No, you’re being biased and toxic. First, you’re engaging in lookism. Second, you’re presenting a subjective opinion as if it were an absolute truth. Third, you’re spreading prejudice and misconceptions.

This kind of attitude should be rooted out, especially in communities like this. There’s already a lot of toxicity here, and many teenagers with body image issues use this platform. Comments like this spread the false idea that appearance is related to adaptability, which simply isn’t true.

Well, there were periods when I was very thin, and it even seems I was underweight, but in my case it wasn’t related to eating disorders. I like her face just because it is very refined and detached.

She really comes from a poor family where there was domestic violence, but firstly, that’s not so rare for that time and the places she comes from. Secondly, from her early age she wasn’t in real poverty, as she benefited from her beauty (relationships with rich men). She ended up abroad and became rich. She could have successfully married and never returned to her wild hometown, but precisely because she was foolish, she did. Instead of building connections and getting an education, she mindlessly spent money and chose a local criminal figure from her hometown in eastern Ukraine.

Yes, to begin with, he apparently emerged with a weapon and declared out loud, “There will be a shooting here”. Then he told students he didn’t even know, “You don’t talk to me much. You don’t communicate with me much”.

A normal person can hardly understand it. I think it’s roughly the same thing that happened with Adam. In a mental collapse, people may lash out at whoever they believe caused their suffering. Naturally, for some people that will be their parents, because Adam saw Nancy’s care as a form of control, and in general he viewed women as selfish.

Maybe Kozak had something similar with his father. Like, “you never let me live the way I wanted” and he may have blamed his father for his loneliness and unhappiness. And don’t forget that he worked for his father too, so his father was both the authority figure at home and his boss at work. The constant time they spent together probably deepened the resentment.

Well, beauty standards vary from person to person, even within the same country. As I mentioned in my previous answer, the CIS is a very patriarchal environment where a woman’s appearance is given huge importance, and it is often treated as almost her first and sometimes even only value, around which everything revolves.

There is also a noticeable imbalance in the use of cosmetic procedures and plastic surgery, which is often framed as self-care, even though injecting fillers into the face and creating exaggeratedly feminine proportions is far from healthy self-care. So yes, there is a strong fixation on appearance.

Personally, I really like the face of Snejana Onopka. If I could choose my appearance at birth, I’d probably pick something similar, though I think I look fine overall. Unfortunately, no matter how beautiful she may be in my opinion, it is still a reminder that beauty without intelligence is completely useless.

Ну я теж прекрасно розумію, про що саме йде мова. Як на мене, він теж кріповий, особливо його погляд (можливо, через глибоко посаджені очі?). Здебільшого мене не дуже лякав зовнішній вигляд злочинців – тобто я могла б навіть не подумати, що з людьми щось не так. Мене так лякав раніше тільки Ланза з цими “autistic eyes”, але зараз у нього з’явився конкурент у залякуванні.

Козак один із найстрашніших нападників. У мене є дивні списки по трукрайму, де я сортую злочинців за категоріями (типу: найкрінжовіші й найдурніші, найстрашніші, дивні тощо). Отож раніше на першій позиції був Ланза, а тепер першу сходинку урочисто посів Козак.

Honestly, that was my first impression too. It’s quite a diverse mix of interests.

I suppose it may be connected to a certain romanticism in his personality and a tendency toward fantasy. When history becomes someone’s passion, it often suggests a vivid imagination and some interest in things that feel almost fantastical compared to modern reality. Of course, it’s also possible that it was simply influenced by his parents, but considering how difficult it is to get into such a faculty, that explanation remains debatable.

If you think about it, anime (and even hentai with unrealistic plots) also strongly points toward that fantasy-oriented side. Possibly emotional distance as well, since everything portrayed there is fictional. Again, we know that he was probably a fan of The Witcher, which is a separate, richly detailed fantasy world with complex storylines, mythology, and so on.

I think it may have been a leak of intent, either because it was difficult for him to hold back, or because he wanted the person to remember it later and realize what they had missed. I think it was connected to impatience and resentment.