Krakow Shooting Kills 6 as Poland Cites Far-Right Motive
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Poland began two days of national mourning on Sunday after a 24-year-old man with far-right views drove into Krakow's Main Square and opened fire, killing six people before police shot and wounded him, according to ABC News. Prosecutors are treating the attack as a terrorist offense, and the bodies of three of his relatives were found at the family home.
The attack took place at midday on Saturday in the heart of the Old Town, a major tourist destination in Poland's second-largest city. NBC News described it as the country's deadliest shooting in decades.
What officials say about the attacker
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the man, a Polish national from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, holds very radical, ultranationalistic views. He said the attacker used an automatic rifle and that "everything indicates he was fascinated by far-right ideologies."
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said on X that the suspect is under investigation for murder in the six deaths. He said the man acted to seriously intimidate a large number of people, which makes the case a terrorist offense. Specialists in terror offenses within the prosecutor's office are leading the inquiry.
The suspect also faces a separate murder charge over the deaths in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 93 miles northeast of Krakow, Żurek said. Police said the three bodies there were those of the attacker's sister, mother and father, and that they likely died from gunshot wounds.
The attacker remains in critical condition after multiple operations. Krakow prosecutor Eryk Stasielak said a decision on his fate would come Monday if he survives, and that autopsies on the victims would begin that day, NBC reported.
The victims and the officers who stopped him
Four women and two men were killed. Regional governor Krzysztof Jan Klęczar said four of the dead were Polish, one was a man from the U.K., and one was a woman from a country that has not been made public. Names have not been released.
Reports differ on the number wounded: ABC reported 15 and NBC reported 16. ABC said five of the wounded are foreign nationals, from the U.K., Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria. NBC said 11 of the injured are Polish.
Two police officers, Senior Constables Jakub Kulik and Artur Moranski, confronted the attacker and remain in hospital. Klęczar said that without their quick, selfless intervention, the number of victims could have been significantly higher. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called both men heroes. Accounts of their condition differ: ABC said one was still in a coma, while NBC said Kierwiński reported that both had come out of comas.
Guns and a rare kind of attack
Klęczar said the attacker's father legally owned more than 10 guns and that the attacker also owned guns. ABC reported that about 411,000 people hold gun permits in a country of 37 million, and that interest in gun ownership has been rising.
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland. Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague, told ABC the attacker's gear and appearance resembled those of other extreme-right lone actors. He said that "these kinds of attacks have become successful in Poland."
Why it matters for Poland and for visitors
Many of those caught in the attack were tourists, NBC reported, and the square draws visitors from many countries. Part of Main Market Square and nearby streets reopened Sunday, but cordons remain while police carry out forensic work, according to the city. ABC said the square was still partially closed Sunday morning.
The U.S. State Department said it was not aware of any American citizens harmed. Taylor Dorfmeister, a 21-year-old American student studying in Italy, told NBC he was in the square with his roommate and took shelter in a building.
Leaders abroad responded. Pope Leo XIV sent a message of sadness to the archbishop of Krakow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the shooting a shocking crime. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the U.K. government mourns the British victim and the others who died.
Mourners left candles and flowers at makeshift memorials across the city. Officials also appealed for blood donations for the most seriously wounded officer, and police later said Krakow's blood banks were full.
What happens next
Prosecutors say their priorities are establishing the full sequence of the attacker's actions and securing evidence. The national days of mourning run Nov. 8 and 9, and the autopsies and the decision on the attacker's legal fate are due Monday.
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