Poland opened a terrorism investigation after a gunman killed six people in Krakow, as mourners gathered in the city’s Main Market Square with candles and flowers. Authorities said the suspect had been “fascinated by far-right ideologies”.
The 24-year-old Polish man allegedly opened fire at random yesterday in the historic centre of the country’s second-largest city. Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the attack as an act of “terrorism”.
Police said a British national was among those killed. The 17 wounded included nationals of Austria, Britain, Germany, Portugal and Russia, according to a spokeswoman for the interior ministry.
Three additional bodies were discovered at the suspect’s home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, about 150km northeast of Krakow. Police identified them as his parents and sister.
The gunman was injured during an exchange of fire with police and remained in critical condition in hospital.
The National Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that it had begun a terrorism investigation.
Krakow’s historic Main Market Square and nearby streets stayed closed, while police permitted access only to essential workers.
Several cafes in the surrounding area did not open, and flags at city hall flew at half-mast. People left candles at a number of sites across the square.
The traditional trumpet call from St Mary’s church, which overlooks the square, was halted for 12 hours in memory of the victims. State news agency PAP said it was the first suspension of the call since 1939.
In Warsaw, police said yesterday that security would be increased in crowded areas popular with tourists. Barriers were placed across streets leading to Krakowskie Przedmiescie, in the historic centre of the capital.
Watch: Eyewitnesses recall mass shooting in Krakow
Relatives’ bodies found
Polish media identified the suspect as Michal O.
Regional police said on social media that the three people found dead at his home were his parents and sister.
The victims were a 53-year-old man and two women, aged 52 and 21.
“Injuries were found on the bodies, which were preliminarily assessed as gunshot wounds… Seven firearms were seized from the flat,” police said.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said officers had also discovered weapons inside the suspect’s car.
Investigators quoted by Polish media said Michal O. had no previous criminal record.
He belonged to a shooting club, as did his father.
Attacks shatter sense of security
Paramedics help a shooting victim in the historic center of Krakow where a gunman opened fire
“I’m absolutely devastated,” Weronika Filar, 27, a Krakow resident, told AFP.
“It’s one of the safest places on Earth genuinely…I did not expect anything like this to happen to us,” she said. “Our city will never be the same.”
Krzysztof Stepien, a 28-year-old part-time city guide, said Europe had experienced similar incidents, but not Krakow.
“Nothing like this has ever happened here, and I hope it never will again,” Stepien told AFP.
Maria, a 20-year-old cafe employee in Warsaw, said she “almost burst into tears” after hearing about the attack.
“Recent events – not just this one, but things happening lately – are really affecting our sense of security,” she said.
In an editorial, leading daily Rzeczpospolita said the shooting had brought a “brutal end to an era in which Poland was considered an island of safety”.
Police remain at the cordoned off scene in Krakow
Alongside their shock and grief, officials and members of the public commended the police officers who confronted and detained the gunman in a close-range shootout.
Police issued an urgent appeal for blood for one of two injured officers, who was described as “fighting for his life in hospital”.
“Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Moranski are true heroes,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a post on X on Saturday. “They likely saved many human lives, disregarding the risk to their own.”
People light candles for the victims close to the Main Market Place
McEntee pays tribute to Irish Civil Defence members
Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee expressed her condolences to the families of those killed in Poland and praised Irish Civil Defence members who assisted at the scene.
“This was a truly devastating attack on innocent civilians who were going about their their daily lives on a Saturday,” she said.
“And while there are obviously speculations around the motives, and otherwise, I have every confidence that the Polish authorities will be investigating, and that there will be justice for those families.”
Ms McEntee said she had also asked her department to contact members of Dublin Civil Defence who were present.
“They obviously were there in a personal capacity, but I think it is extraordinary the way in which I suppose the values and the work that they that they engage in at home, that that went straight into action in Krakow, and that they were there to support very vulnerable people who had been involved in that attack and to assist them,” she said.
“I just want to thank them publicly.”
Additional reporting Sandra Hurley
