World leaders paid tribute as Poland declared two days of national mourning after a gunman motivated by far-right ideologies killed six people in Krakow on Saturday, in what the country’s defense minister called a “terrorist attack”.
The gunman, described by authorities as having “ultranationalist” beliefs, is said to have opened fire in Krakow’s main market square. Four women and two men were killed in the midday attack, the country’s deadliest shooting in decades, while a police officer who confronted the gunman is in critical condition.
The suspect is being investigated on suspicion of murder in connection with the six deaths, Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said on Sunday, adding that he “acted with the aim of seriously intimidating a large number of people, which makes it a terrorist offense.”
The same suspect faces another murder charge for killings committed in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyskie, said Żurek, a town about 150 kilometers northeast of Krakow, where three of the man’s relatives were found dead at his home.
“Establishing all the circumstances of these tragic events, determining the complete sequence of actions of the perpetrator and obtaining evidence are currently the priorities of the investigation”, carried out by specialists in terrorist offenses within the prosecution, he said.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński did not name the suspect but identified him as a Polish national in his 20s from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyskie. He used an automatic rifle, Kierwiński said on Saturday, describing him as having “ultranationalist” views.
“Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” he said.
The suspect was shot dead by police at the scene and taken to hospital around 3 p.m. local time. He remains in critical condition, regional governor Krzysztof Klęczar said at a press conference on Sunday.
A man and two women later found dead in an apartment are believed to be the suspect’s parents and sister, according to Andrzej Fijołek, deputy inspector at the National Police Directorate.
Two days of national mourning, November 8 and 9, were announced on Sunday by the Ministry of the Interior.
Żurek, the justice minister, said on social media on Sunday that Constable Jakub Kulik was “fighting for his life in hospital” after confronting the shooter.
“One of his lungs isn’t working and he needs every drop of blood he can get,” he posted on X.
“Police officers Jakub Kulik and Artur Moranski are true heroes,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, referring to the two officers.
Klęczar said that without the “effective and selfless intervention” of police officers, “the number of victims could have been considerably higher.”
“The condition of the two police officers remains serious,” he said on Sunday, adding that “one of them has already come out of the coma, while the other remains in a coma and is under medical care.”
Video posted to social media shows what appears to be an injured police officer shooting the shooter before falling to his knees and rolling onto his back. The officer, who did not appear to have backup nearby, struggled to reload his firearm and appeared to be holding his right arm.
Four of the dead in the downtown attack have been identified, but their names have not been released. Among them are four Polish nationals, a British national and a non-Polish woman whose nationality has not yet been made public, Klęczar said.
All the injured were alive on Sunday, he said, adding that 11 of the 16 injured were Polish and two of them were police officers.
British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the British government “deeply mourns the British national and other victims” who died in the shooting.
“The United Kingdom stands in strong solidarity with the Polish people,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also said Saturday that his country “stands in solidarity” with neighboring Poland, calling the shooting a “shocking crime.”
The US State Department said it was not aware of any US citizens being injured in the violence.
“The depth of Poland’s shock at the horror of yesterday’s appalling massacre in Krakow is truly remarkable to witness,” U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose said in a message on X.
Highlighting how rare the incident was in an “extraordinarily safe” country like Poland, he added: “There is something deeply precious about being in a country where such evil remains so foreign to daily life, where an entire nation recoils in horror at the mere thought of it, and where the depth of grief reveals the true goodness of its people.” »
Part of Krakow’s Market Square and surrounding streets reopened on Sunday, but cordons remain in place while police carry out forensic work, the city said in a statement.
Tourists caught in attack
Most of the victims of the attack were tourists visiting the city.
Taylor Dorfmeister, a 21-year-old American student studying in Italy and visiting Poland, was in the square with his roommate when gunfire erupted. Dorfmeister said there was some time before the crowd reacted and then everyone started fleeing the area. He said he took refuge in a building.
“We ran up the stairs of the building to hide and it was a dead end, that’s when I was the most terrified since the gunshots were (loud) and close,” Dorfmeister told NBC News.
Dorfmeister had the impression that the gunshots were coming from the first floor of the building where he was hiding. The Santa Cruz, Calif., student was “fully prepared for the worst” because of the proximity to the noise, he said.
“This is it,” thought Dorfmeister. “There is nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
Marie-Ange Collaer was visiting with her family from Brussels.
“We literally ran for our lives and managed to hide from the flying bullets,” she wrote on Facebook. “Lying on the floor in a store like in a bad detective movie while you hear bullets everywhere. »
Collaer said his family was shaking and “pretty much in shock” after returning to their hotel, but everyone was grateful to be alive.
“We saw a few that didn’t survive, it’s a real horror,” she wrote.
Neil Thaxton, a British resident, and his wife, Nicky, also survived the attack.
“We had just passed through the main square and heard the gunshots,” Thaxton wrote on Facebook. “We thought it was fireworks and then people started running, we went into a gift shop and the staff took us to the back of the store, locked the doors and turned off the lights.”
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