A gunman officials say was drawn to far-right ideology drove into Krakow’s crowded Main Square on Saturday and opened fire, killing six people and wounding at least 15 others before police shot and arrested him, authorities said. Hours later, investigators discovered three more bodies at his family home.
The attack turned the medieval heart of one of Poland’s best-known tourist destinations into a crime scene, with bodies and blood on the paving stones of a square long associated with horse-drawn carriages, cafes and sightseers. The violence stunned a country that has long seen itself as safer than its western European neighbors, several of which have endured similar attacks.
Poland’s defense minister described the shooting as an “act of terror,” The Associated Press noted.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspect, whose name was not released, held “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views. “Everything points to the fact that the shooter was influenced by far-right ideology, a matter that will also be subject to investigation,” he told a news briefing, Reuters said.
“Police officers are on-site, as are agents from the Internal Security Agency, both here at the scene and at the individual’s family home,” Kierwiński added.
Victims from several countries
Four women and two men were killed in the square. At least three of the women were Polish, and one of the dead was a British citizen, authorities said. Police were still working to identify the remaining two victims.
An interior ministry spokesperson said five foreign nationals were among the injured, citing citizens of Austria, Germany, Portugal, Russia and Britain. Two police officers were seriously wounded, Kierwiński said.
Thirteen people were hospitalized in serious condition, authorities said, though the figure may include the gunman, who underwent surgery after being shot. Two of the injured were treated and released within hours. It was unclear how many of the wounded had been struck by gunfire.
A ‘wild ride’ through the square
Police began receiving calls at about 3 p.m. (1400 GMT) that a man was firing from a car at random targets in the square, in Poland’s second-largest city.
The attacker drove to multiple points around the square and fired at each stop with an automatic weapon, authorities said. Krakow police spokesperson Katarzyna Cisło said the man wore military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest and carried a military-type long gun. Officers found more weapons and ammunition in his car, she said, and he kept shooting at police even after he was hit.
Cisło described his movements as a “wild ride” around the square, which explains why victims fell at several locations. The gunman appears to have acted alone, she said.
Police spokesperson Andrzej Fijołek told private broadcaster TVN 24 that the assailant used an AR-15 rifle and held a firearms license. It was not immediately clear whether the weapons found in the car were legally owned.
Police described the suspect as a Polish citizen. Reuters, citing police, gave his age as 24, while the AP put it at 25. “The only known perpetrator of the incident is in police custody,” police wrote on X.
Kierwiński praised the officers who stopped the attack. “The police prevented a much larger massacre that could have otherwise occurred,” he said. “They fired shots at the attacker just three minutes after receiving the report.”
Witnesses describe panic
Unverified videos circulating online captured people fleeing into nearby side streets as gunfire and sirens echoed across the square, and bystanders trying to revive victims lying on the pavement. One clip appeared to show a police officer repeatedly firing at the attacker on the ground before slowly collapsing himself. Photos showed a Polish Medical Air Rescue helicopter that had landed in the square.
“I saw shots being fired from the driver’s side window, and smoke was coming out. I ran to the police station in the main market square; when I burst inside, it was full of people hiding on the floor,” a witness who identified himself only as Konrad told the news site Interia.
A 67-year-old man named Julek told Reuters he watched a dark car appear suddenly before the driver began firing at a group of people and sped away. “If we had been two minutes earlier, we might have been shot,” he said.
Bodies found at family home
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the bodies of two women and a man were discovered at the suspect’s home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. Reuters placed the city just under 200 kilometers north of Krakow, while the AP put it about 150 kilometers (93 miles) to the northeast.
“There are strong indications that they are members of his immediate family,” Tusk told a crisis meeting. “We have the next acts of this tragedy,” he told reporters.
Tusk said authorities used a drone to look inside the home because of possible security risks. “We know that a significant amount of weaponry may be inside the house,” he said. Local media in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski said residents of the building were evacuated and counterterrorism officers went inside.
Tomasz Siemoniak, the minister coordinating the special services, said the Internal Security Agency and the Military Counterintelligence Service are assisting the investigation.
Nation in mourning
A spokesperson for President Karol Nawrocki said he would declare national mourning on Nov. 8 and 9. “My thoughts are with the victims, those injured, and their families,” Nawrocki wrote on X.
Krakow Mayor Łukasz Gibała said the city would observe mourning through Wednesday and pledged it would stay open to visitors. “The square will belong to us again,” he said in a video on X.
In Warsaw, Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski announced tighter security, including road barriers along main streets in the capital’s Old Town.
Condolences poured in from across Europe. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “shocking” and offered condolences to the victims’ families on behalf of Ukrainians. European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called it “a tragedy that will be felt far beyond Poland.”
Kacper Rękawek, a senior researcher at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague, said the attacker’s military gear, weapons and appearance resembled those of other “extreme right lone actors” behind attacks in Europe. “We have had attempts before, but now we can say that these kinds of attacks have become successful in Poland,” he said.
Poland confronts a threat it hoped to avoid
Mass shootings are rare in Poland, and Saturday’s attack shatters a widely held belief that the country stood apart from the extremist violence seen elsewhere in Europe. Rękawek’s assessment is the most sobering takeaway: the threat was not new, but this time it was not stopped in time.
The attack also deepens unease that began building in October, when three school attacks in the central province of Mazovia over four days left one person dead and many injured, including children. Authorities linked those incidents to violent and extremist material online.
Together, the episodes are likely to sharpen scrutiny of how young Poles are being radicalized and whether security services are equipped to detect lone attackers before they act.
The weapons question will be central. Around 411,000 people hold gun permits in a country of 37 million, and interest in firearm ownership has been rising. If the suspect legally obtained an AR-15 and stockpiled additional weapons, as officials suggest, pressure for tighter vetting and licensing rules could grow quickly, particularly if investigators find warning signs that went unnoticed.
The discovery of three bodies at the family home adds another dimension that investigators must untangle: whether the killings there preceded the Krakow rampage and what they reveal about the attacker’s planning.
The choice of target, a symbolic and heavily visited public space, appears designed for maximum visibility. The international mix of victims ensures the attack will reverberate across Europe, and Warsaw’s swift move to barricade its own Old Town signals that Polish officials now see the risk as national rather than isolated. How the government balances heightened security with Gibała’s promise to keep Krakow open will shape the country’s response in the weeks ahead.
Sources: AP/Reuters
