Six people were killed and 16 taken to hospital when a gunman opened fire in Krakow's Main Market Square on Saturday afternoon, before police shot him within three minutes.
The firing started shortly before 15:00 local time, 14:00 GMT, in the square at the centre of the old city, and according to police the man drove in and then shot at people at random from his car. Four women and two men died there.
Officers stopped him quickly. Officials said he'd been shot and wounded within three minutes of the attack beginning, and Prime Minister Donald Tusk named the two who halted him as Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Morański.
| Killed in the square | Six, four women and two men |
|---|---|
| Taken to hospital | Sixteen, including five foreigners, two police officers and the attacker |
| Bodies at the family home | Three, two women and one man |
| Injured officers | One shot three times; both stable by Sunday |
Tusk said police found three bodies at the gunman's house: his father, 53, his mother, 52, and his sister, 21.
A Polish man of 24 with a permit and military kit
A Polish man of 24 from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, with no criminal record, is the suspect. He held a gun permit and so did his father, and a police spokesperson said he wore military-style clothing and carried a military-grade weapon, though he wasn't a soldier.
His age moved during the weekend. Authorities first said 24, then 25, and confirmed 24 again on Sunday; some reporting still gave 25.
The club in Starachowice where the suspect is thought to have trained, Swit, said it taught him only static shooting, not dynamic, tactical or combat shooting.
Prosecutors call the attack terrorism
Tusk said the assault was what Poland had so far been spared, and he used the word for it plainly.
Until now in Poland we haven't had such drastic cases of terrorism...that's what we have to call this cruel attack on people's lives here in Krakow.
The Krakow branch of the National Public Prosecutor's Office said it had opened an investigation into an act of a terrorist nature.
Attention turned to ideology. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński described the suspect's views as very radical and ultranationalistic.
Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies.
Reports in media and on social platforms about possible ties to radical groups prompted the Central Bureau for Combating Cybercrime to take part in the investigation.
The wounded, and the officers who went in
The interior ministry said sixteen people were taken to hospital, among them five foreigners, two police officers and the attacker. Other reporting put the number of wounded at 15. The foreign wounded came from Austria, Britain, Germany, Portugal and Russia.
Marie-Ange Collaer, a visitor from Brussels, was in the square when the shooting began.
We literally ran for our lives and managed to hide from the bullets flying around.
Krzysztof Jan Klęczar, the Malopolska regional governor, said the two officers had prevented a far higher toll.
If it weren’t for the efficient and selfless intervention of these two young men, the number of victims could have been significantly higher.
Police spokesperson Katarzyna Cislo said one officer was shot three times during the arrest and was described by a government minister as in a very critical condition. By Sunday afternoon, both were conscious and stable.
Two surgeons, Dr Mateusz Wierdak and Prof Michał Pędziwiatr, treated casualties after eating lunch nearby with their families. Pędziwiatr said the pair didn't feel like heroes and had done what a paramedic would do at such a scene.
- 7 NovFirst shots
Firing begins shortly before 15:00 in the Main Market Square.
- 7 NovGunman stopped
Police shoot and wound the suspect within three minutes.
- 7 NovBodies at the home
Three bodies are found at the suspect's house.
- 8 NovOfficers stable
Both injured officers are conscious and stable, police say.
- 11 NovMourning ends
The city's period of mourning closes on Wednesday.
Where the reporting diverges
What is still in dispute
Version one
Figures given first, and by officials
- Suspect aged 24, confirmed by authorities on Sunday
- Sixteen people taken to hospital, including five foreigners, two police officers and the attacker
- A British national and an Austrian woman among the dead
- Suspect shot within three minutes
Version two
Later and conflicting accounts
- Suspect reported as 25
- Fifteen wounded
- A man from the UK and a woman from an unidentified foreign country
- Shootout put at about 20 minutes
What we know
- Six people were killed in the Main Market Square.
- Police shot the suspect within three minutes, officials said.
- Three bodies were found at the suspect's home.
- Mourning in the city runs until 11 November.
Still unclear
- The suspect's exact motive.
- The names and ages of the other victims.
- Whether the suspect had links to radical groups.
- The identity of the foreign woman killed.
Condolences from abroad
Reaction came from outside Poland. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was shocked and saddened, and that Britain stood with the Polish people. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the shooting a tragedy that will be felt far beyond the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called it shocking and offered condolences to the families. US ambassador to Poland Tom Rose described the attack as "savage and murderous".
Kacper Rekawek, who researches at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague, said the suspect's equipment and appearance matched those of extreme right lone actors seen elsewhere in Europe.
We have had attempts before, but now we can say that these kinds of attacks have become successful in Poland.
Mourning, and a backdrop of school attacks
St Mary's Trumpet Call, played hourly from the basilica tower over the square, was paused overnight in tribute. The call hadn't been skipped since World War II.
The attack comes as the country continues to absorb violence from mid-October, when schools in the central province of Mazovia were hit by three attacks over four days. One person died and many were wounded, including children. Officials blamed the attacks on online glorification of violence and said some attackers were active in the far-right environment.
Mayor Łukasz Gibała declared mourning in the city until Wednesday, 11 November. He said people had to hold together in such a moment.
The square stayed partly closed on Sunday morning, and city officials asked residents and tourists to keep away while the investigation runs. The suspect is in critical condition after several operations, and Krakow's mourning ends on Wednesday, 11 November.
