Key takeaways:
- Six people, including a British national, were killed in Saturday’s shooting in Kraków’s main market square.
- The suspect was wounded during police action and remained in critical condition Sunday; investigators are also examining three deaths at his home.
- Poland declared November 8 and 9 days of national mourning. NBC News reported 16 people injured, while Al Jazeera reported 15 wounded.
Poland began two days of national mourning Sunday after a gunman killed six people in Kraków’s main market square. Prosecutors are investigating the attack as a terrorist offence and examining the deaths of three people found at the suspect’s home about 93 miles away.
The gunman opened fire around midday Saturday in the city’s historic center. Four women and two men were killed, including a British national. NBC News described it as Poland’s deadliest shooting in decades. Reports differed on the number of people wounded: NBC News put the total at 16, while Al Jazeera cited authorities who told the Polish Press Agency that 15 were wounded.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński identified the suspect as a Polish national in his mid-20s from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyskie. Al Jazeera reported that he was 24. Kierwiński said the attacker used an automatic rifle and held “ultranationalistic” views. “Everything indicates he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” the minister said.
The suspect was wounded during police action and remained in critical condition Sunday, regional governor Krzysztof Klęczar said.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said the suspect was under investigation in connection with the six Kraków deaths and the killings in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyskie. A man and two women found dead there are believed to be his parents and sister. A spokesperson for the prosecutor’s office told Al Jazeera it was “highly likely” the same person carried out both sets of killings, but the investigation was continuing.
Żurek said the gunman “acted with the aim of seriously intimidating a large number of people, making this a terrorist offence.” Prosecutors are also investigating the attempted murder of others, including police officers.
Two officers who confronted the attacker were seriously hurt. Żurek said Senior Constable Jakub Kulik was “fighting for his life in hospital” and needed blood after one of his lungs stopped functioning. Klęczar said Sunday that one officer had emerged from a coma while the other remained in one. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called Kulik and fellow officer Artur Moranski “true heroes.”
The Interior Ministry declared November 8 and 9 days of national mourning. Mourners placed candles near the square, and flags at city hall flew at half-mast. The Polish Press Agency reported that the hourly trumpet call from St. Mary’s Church was suspended for 12 hours in remembrance of the dead, the first such interruption since 1939.
Accounts of access to the square differed Sunday. NBC News reported that part of it and nearby streets had reopened while forensic work continued behind cordons. Al Jazeera reported that the square and surrounding streets remained closed except to essential service workers.
Visitors described fleeing the gunfire. “We literally ran for our lives and managed to hide from the bullets flying around,” Marie-Ange Collaer, who was visiting from Brussels with her family, wrote on Facebook.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said Britain “deeply mourns the British national and other victims.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the shooting a “shocking crime” and said Ukraine stood in solidarity with Poland.
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