At least six people have been killed and 16 more wounded when a gunman opened fire from his car in the southern Polish city of Kraków, officials said on Saturday, adding that three more people were found dead at his home.
Police started getting reports of a shooting at around 3 p.m. local time (9 a.m. ET), when the suspect drove into the city’s main market square and started firing randomly, killing four women and two men, Kraków police said.
The alleged attacker was wearing military-style clothing and used “military weapons,” Police Deputy Inspector Katarzyna Cisło told Polish news outlet TVN24.
He was shot and injured by police and has been transported to the hospital, police said.
The suspect, a 25-year-old Polish citizen, was the only perpetrator sought by authorities, police added.
Poland’s Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz denied reports that the suspect was a soldier.
“The man was not and is not a soldier in the Polish Armed Forces and has never had anything to do with the military,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
Later, police discovered the bodies of three people — two women and a man — during a search of the suspect’s home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, an area about 120 miles north of Kraków.
They also found “many pieces of weapons and ammunition” in his vehicle, Cisło said.
It was not immediately clear what the gunman’s motive was for the shootings.
At a press conference, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said that the attacker was fascinated with far-right ideologies and held “very radical views,” the Associated Press reported.
“Everything points to the fact that the shooter was influenced by far-right ideology, a matter that will also be subject to investigation,” Kierwiński said.
Two police officers are among those injured in the attack, that left one in a very critical condition, Kierwiński said.
According to officials, one officer suffered a single gunshot wound, while the second was shot three times.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said that one of the officers has a non-functioning lung and urgently requires AB+ blood, urging citizens to contact blood donation centers immediately to help.
The two officers “likely saved many lives, without regard for the risk of losing their own,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk wrote on X.
“The police officers who responded immediately and stopped the attacker with great determination showed tremendous courage. They are true heroes,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said.
The injured included five foreign nationals from Austria, Germany, Portugal, Russia, and Britain, an Interior Ministry spokesperson told Reuters.
Heavily armed police wearing helmets and tactical gear are present at the square, video footage from Reuters showed. Pedestrians can be seen walking down the street as sirens ring out in the background. Kraków’s main market square, lined with cafes and bars, is typically a busy area that is popular with tourists and locals.
Emergency services are still working at the scene. Polish police set up a bus near the location of the attack for eyewitnesses to report their accounts to authorities.
Kraków’s transportation agency reportedthat a bullet from the shooter’s gun struck a tram, shattering the driver’s window, but causing no injuries.
The suspect also shot two horses that were pulling carriages in the city center, according to the animal rights group OTOZ Animals. Both horses are alive, have been treated by a veterinarian, and were taken away from the area, the group said.
Poland, like other European Union countries, has strict rules about acquiring guns and very few people are allowed to own military-style weapons or carry guns in public.
Tusk said in a social media post that police are investigating the “tragic shooting” and that he is being updated by the interior ministry.
Late Saturday night, Tusk held a briefing in Kraków with government ministers, security service officers, the head of the National Security Bureau, and the mayor.
Tusk told the crisis meeting that there were “strong indications” that the three bodies discovered during the search at the residential property “are members of the suspect’s immediate family.”
President of Poland Karol Nawrocki said that the head of the country’s National Security Bureau was on his way to Kraków. “My thoughts are with the victims, those injured and their families,” he said in a statement.
Kraków mayor Łukasz Gibała declared a period of mourning in the city until November 11.
Countries neighboring Poland reacted to the attack with statements expressing support for those affected.
Czechia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs extended its “deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to all those affected by this brutal attack.”
Slovakia’s foreign minister Juraj Blanár said he was “deeply shocked” by the attack and that “Slovakia stands in solidarity with the Polish people at this difficult time.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote that “there can be no justification for this attack.”
By CNN
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