A Polish man who authorities say held ultranationalistic views killed six people and injured 15 others during an attack in Krakow on Saturday, before police shot and wounded him.
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Polish authorities say a 25-year-old gunman with far-right views drove into Krakow’s Main Square in the Old Town on Saturday and opened fire, killing six people and injuring 15 others before police shot and wounded him.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the man had “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views, and that “everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies.”
Defense Minister described the attack as an “act of terror,” which took place in the heart of Krakow’s Old Town, a major tourist hub in the country’s second-largest city.
Authorities said the attacker drove to multiple spots within the square and opened fire at each stop using an automatic weapon.
Hours after the attack, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said authorities found the bodies of three of the suspect’s close family members—two women and a man—inside the man’s home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 150 kilometres northeast of Krakow.
Police said they were still trying to identify the remaining two people killed in the attack. Officials said four women and two men were killed, including at least one U.K. citizen.
Officials said 13 people were hospitalized in serious condition, and that the total may include the gunman, who underwent surgery after the attack. Kierwiński said two police officers were seriously injured.
Kierwiński and a police commander, Marek Boroń, said five non-Poles were among those injured, and that it was unclear how many of the wounded were shot.
According to Krakow police spokesperson Katarzyna Cisło, the attacker wore military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest, used a military-type long gun, and police found other weapons and ammunition in his car. Cisło said the gunman kept firing at police even after being shot himself.
Cisło described the attack as a “wild ride” around Main Square, which is why people were wounded at several locations, and said the gunman appears to have acted alone.
Krakow mayor Łukasz Gibała said the city will be in official mourning until Wednesday and vowed Krakow would remain open to visitors, telling residents, “The square will belong to us again,” in a video posted on X.
Authorities said mass shootings are rare in Poland, though in mid-October there were three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia within four days, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children.
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