KRAKOW – A Polish gunman likely influenced by far-right ideology killed six people in the main square of the southern city of Krakow before police shot and arrested him, officials said on Saturday, adding that three more bodies were found in his home.
The scenes of blood and bodies strewn across the historic heart of one of Poland’s main tourist attractions shocked a nation that has long viewed itself as safer than western European neighbors that have witnessed such attacks in the past.
The mass shooting of unprecedented scale adds to the sense of unease built by a string of school stabbings in October which authorities said was influenced by violent and extremist content online.
“Everything points to the fact that the shooter was influenced by far-right ideology, a matter that will also be subject to investigation,” Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski told a news briefing.
“Police officers are on-site, as are agents from the Internal Security Agency, both here at the scene and at the individual’s family home.”
Kierwinski said five foreigners were among the 16 wounded who were taken to hospital. Police said one of the dead people identified so far was a British citizen.
The Portuguese Foreign Ministry said in a statement that a Portuguese woman was among the injured and was in hospital, without providing more details.
Polish authorities had earlier said that the dead were four women and two men and that two police officers were wounded.
Bodies found at gunman’s house
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said that the bodies of two women and one man had been found at the shooter’s home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, just under 200 kilometers north of Krakow.
“There are strong indications that they are members of his immediate family,” Tusk told a crisis meeting.
He said a drone had been used to look inside the gunman’s home due to potential security threats.
“We know that a significant amount of weaponry may be inside the house,” he said.
Local media in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski reported that residents had been evacuated from the building where the gunman lived and that counterterrorism officers had entered the building.
Speaking along with the prime minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, the minister coordinating special services, said Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) and Military Counterintelligence Service (SKW) are supporting the investigation.
Military-style clothes
Katarzyna Cislo, a local police spokesperson, said: “The shooter was wearing military-like clothes and used military weapons. Many … weapons and ammunition were found in his vehicle too.”
Police spokesperson Andrzej Fijolek told private broadcaster TVN 24 that the assailant used an AR-15 rifle and that he had a firearms license.
According to police, the alleged gunman was a 24-year-old Polish citizen. “The only known perpetrator of the incident is in police custody,” they added in a post on X. They did not mention a motive for the shootings.
Police said they started to receive reports at around 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) that an assailant had opened fire from a car and had shot randomly at people in the square in Poland’s second-largest city, a popular tourist destination.
Unverified footage shared on social media showed people fleeing the scene as shots rang out and police sirens blared. Other video showed two people lying on blood-spattered paving stones and bystanders trying to resuscitate them. A third person lay motionless on the ground nearby.
“I saw shots being fired from the driver’s side window, and smoke was coming out. I ran to the police station in the main market square; when I burst inside, it was full of people hiding on the floor,” a man who gave his name only as Konrad, and witnessed the shooting, told news website Interia.
A 67-year-old man called Julek told Reuters that he saw a dark car appear suddenly before the driver started shooting at a group of people and drove off.
“If we had been two minutes earlier, we might have been shot,” he said.
Unverified footage on social media showed shooting in the Main Market Square as traditional horse-drawn carriages, popular with tourists, passed through or were parked nearby.
A man could be seen taking cover in one of the many restaurants and cafes that line the elegant square.
National mourning
Kierwinski praised the heroism of officers who apprehended the suspect.
“The police prevented a much larger massacre that could have otherwise occurred,” he said. “They fired shots at the attacker just three minutes after receiving the report.”
A spokesperson for President Karol Nawrocki said he would declare a period of national mourning on November 8 and 9.
“My thoughts are with the victims, those injured, and their families,” Nawrocki wrote on X.
Expressions of shock and condolence flooded in from around Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the shooting “shocking.” “On behalf of the Ukrainian people, and personally, I extend my sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims,” he wrote on X.
European foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called it “a tragedy that will be felt far beyond Poland.” —Reuters
