Six Killed, Dozen Injured in Mass Shooting in Poland's Krakow

A 25-year-old gunman drove into Kraków’s Main Market Square on Saturday afternoon and opened fire, killing six people and wounding about 15 others before police shot and wounded him, Polish authorities said. Poland’s defence minister called it an “act of terror.”

Four women and two men were killed. Police said at least five of the wounded were foreign nationals. The suspect, a Polish citizen whom the authorities have not named, was taken to hospital.

HOW THE ATTACK UNFOLDED

The gunman drove to several spots in the square and fired at each stop with an automatic weapon, police said. He was wearing military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest, and police found other weapons and ammunition in his car. They said he kept firing at officers even after being hit.

Two police officers were seriously wounded, and one was in critical condition. Prime Minister Donald Tusk named them as Senior Constables Jakub Kulik and Artur Morański, and said they “likely saved many lives, without regard for the risk of losing their own.”

THE SUSPECT

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the man was fascinated with far-right ideologies and held “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views. “Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” he said. Authorities have not given a motive.

Late on Saturday, Tusk said police had found three more people dead at the suspect’s home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 200 km north of Kraków: two women and a man, who are believed to be his close relatives. He called it “the next acts of this tragedy.”

REACTIONS POUR IN

“My deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims of the tragic attack in Kraków,” Tusk said. He praised the police and paramedics, and appealed to politicians “of all stripes: do not exploit this tragedy.”

“We will establish all the circumstances of this crime,” he said.

Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the city “is suffering, but it is not giving up. And it is not alone.”

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the loss of life “will be felt far beyond Poland,” and conveyed her condolences to Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. “In this moment of grief, Poland does not stand alone,” she said.

With inputs from ANI