Bodies found at home of suspect in Krakow mass shooting
Two women and one man found dead in the suspect’s home were likely his family, Poland’s prime minister said.
A Polish man with far-right views drove into a busy central square in Krakow on Saturday and opened fire, killing six people including a British citizen and injuring 15 others before police shot and wounded him, authorities said.
The attack, which Poland’s defence minister described as an “act of terror”, happened in Main Square, which is in the heart of Krakow’s Old Town and is a major tourist hub in the country’s second-largest city.
The 25-year-old attacker drove to multiple spots in the square and opened fire at each stop with an automatic weapon, authorities said. Although they did not release his name, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the man holds “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views.
“Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” Mr Kierwinski said at a news conference.
Hours after the attack, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said authorities found the bodies of three of the suspect’s close family members — two women and a man — inside of his home in Ostrowiec Swiętokrzyski, a city about 150km (93 miles) northeast of Krakow.
“We have the next acts of this tragedy,” Mr Tusk told reporters.
Four women and two men were killed in the Krakow attack. At least three of the women were Polish, and one of the dead was a UK citizen, authorities said at a news conference. Police were still trying to identify the other two people who were killed.
Authorities have not identified the alleged attacker, but they have said he is a 25-year-old Polish man who has “ultranationalistic” views.
The suspect opened fire with an automatic weapon in the city’s Main Square, in what Poland’s defence minister called an “act of terror” on the people of the city.
The gunman aimed at random people as he drove by the city’s Main Square, a major tourist destination, Krakow police said. Police officers are among the wounded.
Thirteen of the 16 people injured were taken to hospital with serious injuries, and one of them was a foreign citizen.
It was not immediately clear how many of the victims had suffered gunshot wounds, though two people had already been released from medical treatment within hours of the attack.
The alleged perpetrator was shot and wounded during a gunfight with officers a short distance away from the initial violence, police said, and was taken to hospital for surgery.
Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz called Saturday’s fatal shooting an “act of terror” on the people of Krakow, Poland’s second-largest city, which receives 15 million visitors a year, most of them passing through the Main Square.
Krakow is roughly 250km (155 miles) from the capital, Warsaw.
Katarzyna Cislo, a spokesperson for the Krakow police, told TVN24 that the perpetrator was wearing military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest and he used a military-type long gun in the attack.
The attacker engaged in a “wild ride” around the Main Square, Ms Cislo said, which is why people were wounded at several locations. Videos posted on social media by witnesses show people running away from the square to take cover on small streets nearby, as well as first responders trying to resuscitate victims.
In one of the videos, a police officer is seen repeatedly shooting the attacker, who is lying on the street, only to later slowly collapse himself to the ground.
Police found several other weapons, as well as ammunition, in his car.
He kept firing at the police even after being shot himself, she said. Ms Cislo added that the gunman acted alone.
Mr Kierwinski wrote on X that two police officers were wounded by gunfire and one is in a serious condition.
Animal rights group OTOZ Animals said the attacker also shot two horses. Both animals are alive, but one was grazed by a bullet and the other hit in the leg. White carriages drawn by horses are a main tourist attraction in the square.
Images from the scene showed police officers and ambulances covering the area, which is in the centre of Krakow. A Polish Medical Air Rescue helicopter also landed in the square.
A spokesperson for the local firefighters told Polsat News that the perpetrator fired a gun from a passing car.
A tram driver reported around 3pm that his vehicle was shot at from a man in a moving car while passing nearby the main square, the Krakow municipal transport company said. The window to the tram driver’s cabin was shattered.
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland. However, in mid-October three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia took place within four days, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children.
It was not immediately clear whether the firearm used in Saturday’s attack, or the guns found in the alleged perpetrator’s car, were legal. Around 411,000 people hold gun permits in Poland, which has a population of 37 million, and interest in gun ownership has been rising.
Mr Tusk, in a post on X, earlier praised the police officers who responded to Saturday’s tragedy.
And Polish President Karol Nawrocki said his thoughts were with the victims, the wounded and their families.
“We are just learning details of the horrific mass shooting in Krakow, a savage and murderous attack that’s shattered the peace of Poland,” Tom Rose, the US ambassador to Poland, wrote on X.
“America stands with Poland at this dark hour as Poland stands with her beloved citizens of Krakow.”
Krakow mayor Lukasz Gibala said the city will be in official mourning until Wednesday. He vowed that Krakow will remain open to visitors despite the tragedy.
“The square will belong to us again,” Mr Gibala said in a video posted to X.
Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski announced increased security measures, including road barriers, along main streets in the old town in the Polish capital in the aftermath of the Krakow attack.