Police chief fired grenade launcher given as gift by Ukraine, according to Polish media | Poland

Polish prosecutors are investigating a ‘violent release of energy’ at national police headquarters as media reports the police chief fired a grenade launcher into his office.

Poland’s Interior Ministry said Thursday that Jarosław Szymczyk, the police chief commander, was injured and taken to hospital. when a gift he received during a visit to Ukraine exploded at the police headquarters in Warsaw.

Polish media reported that the present was a grenade launcher and that Szymczyk himself accidentally fired it in his office, which would be a serious breach of safety regulations.

In a statement, released Thursday, a spokesman for the prosecution said it was investigating “an act of involuntarily causing a violent release of energy that threatened the life or health of numerous persons or property”.

The statement said three people, including Szymczyk, were considered casualties, without giving details of any injuries.

Polish media reported that the explosion damaged a ceiling in the building.

A police spokesperson and a spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office both declined to comment further on the matter.

There was no response from Ukraine’s SBU security service to a Reuters request for comment after it was contacted on Thursday.