Poland Mourns Six Killed in Krakow Square Shooting

Poland began two days of national mourning on Sunday (Nov 8) after the Krakow shooting a day earlier, in which a 24-year-old man with far-right views drove into the city’s busy Main Square and opened fire, killing six people and wounding 15 others before police shot and wounded him, the Associated Press reported.

The attack on Saturday (Nov 7) took place in Rynek Glowny, the Main Square at the heart of Krakow’s Old Town, a major tourist hub in Poland’s second-largest city. According to the AP, four women and two men were killed in the square. Three of the women and one man were Polish, while a man from the United Kingdom and a woman from an unidentified foreign country were also among the dead.

Five foreigners were among the wounded, from the UK, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria. Police officers were also among those hurt, CBS News reported, citing Krakow police, who said the attacker began firing at random people from his car.

Krakow shooting suspect held far-right views

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski told a news conference that the suspect held very radical and ultranationalistic views. “Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” he said, according to the AP. Poland’s defence minister described the attack as an act of terror.

The suspect, who has not been named, is in critical condition after undergoing multiple surgeries, the AP said. His age was first given as 24, then as 25 on Saturday, before being confirmed as 24 on Sunday.

The bodies of his sister, mother and father were later found at the family home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, about 150 km north-east of Krakow. They likely died of gunshot wounds, according to the AP report. Local officials there seized seven weapons from the home, bringing the total recovered to 11, including four found on the suspect or in his car in Krakow. Both the father and son held gun permits.

Police officers praised as prosecutors open terror probe

Malopolska regional governor Krzysztof Jan Kleczar said on Sunday that the two young police officers who stopped the gunman had limited the death toll through their quick intervention. He said one officer was in a coma while the other had regained consciousness, and launched a blood donation appeal for the most seriously injured officer.

Prosecutors said on Sunday they had opened an investigation into the murder and attempted murder of numerous people, including police officers, as a terrorist offence. No individual charges had been reported.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on social media on Saturday that he was being kept informed by the interior minister and that police were investigating the background and circumstances of the attack. President Karol Nawrocki said he was “deeply concerned by reports of the tragic events in central Krakow”, Euronews reported, adding that the head of the National Security Bureau was travelling to the city.

Mourners gather at Krakow’s Main Square

Mourners left candles at the scene on Sunday, while parts of the square remained closed as the investigation continued. The St Mary’s Trumpet Call was paused overnight, the first time it had been missed since World War II, the AP said.

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