The murder of the mayor of Gdańsk Paweł Adamowicz in 2019 and its circumstances formed the topic of many media reports. These events released strong emotions and reactions. The image of Adamowicz constructed by the media immediately following his death was virtually irreproachable, these positive reports being connected with the so-called taboo of death. Over the following years, one of the main topics of the discourse became the question of the moral responsibility for the mayor’s death. The authors of this article concentrate on rhetorical strategies of portraying the protagonists in the media coverage, utilising concepts including those of Robert Rowland. The daily press (“Gazeta Wyborcza”, “Rzeczpospolita” and “Dziennik Zachodni”) and socio-political weekly publications (“Wprost”, “Newsweek”, “Polityka”, “Sieci” and “Do Rzeczy”) are analysed.