KRAKOW – Poland entered two days of national mourning Sunday after a 24-year-old man with far-right views drove into Krakow’s crowded central square and opened fire. Six people were killed and 15 wounded before police shot and injured the suspect.
Poland’s defense minister called Saturday’s attack an “act of terror.” It unfolded in Main Square, the center of Krakow’s Old Town and one of the most visited tourist destinations in the country’s second-largest city.
By Sunday evening, mourners had placed candles in tribute to the victims. Part of the square remained closed as investigators continued gathering evidence.
Marie-Ange Collaer said on Facebook that she and her family survived the shooting while visiting Krakow from Brussels.
“We literally ran for our lives and managed to hide from the bullets flying around,” she wrote. “Lying on the floor in a shop like in a bad police movie whilst you hear bullets everywhere.”
After reaching their hotel, Collaer said her family remained shaken and “quite in shock,” but deeply grateful that everyone had survived.
“We saw a few that did not make it, true horror,” she wrote.
Attacker’s sister and parents found dead
Police also discovered three bodies at the suspect’s family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, roughly 150 kilometers (93 miles) northeast of Krakow. Authorities said Sunday that the dead were the attacker’s sister, mother and father.
The three family members appeared to have died from gunshot wounds, police said.
Four women and two men died in the Main Square attack, according to Krzysztof Jan Klęczar, governor of the Malopolska region. Three of the women and one of the men were Polish. The other victims were a British man and a woman whose foreign nationality had not been identified.
The two officers who confronted the gunman were praised by officials for their bravery and remained hospitalized. Klęczar said one was still in a coma, while the other had regained consciousness after emerging from a coma. Authorities appealed for blood donations for the critically injured officer.
“If it weren’t for the efficient and selfless intervention of these two young men, the number of victims could have been significantly higher,” Klęczar said.
Five foreign nationals were among those wounded, officials said. They came from the U.K., Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria.
The attacker was also in critical condition after undergoing several operations.
Authorities gave conflicting information about the suspect’s age on Saturday, initially identifying him as 24 before saying he was 25. Officials confirmed Sunday that he is 24.
Mass shooting marks a grim first for Poland
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspect held “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” beliefs.
“Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” Kierwiński said during a news conference.
Witness videos shared online showed people fleeing the square and seeking shelter in nearby narrow streets, while emergency responders attempted to revive victims. One recording showed an officer firing repeatedly at the attacker as he lay in the street, before the officer himself later appeared to collapse slowly.
Klęczar said the suspect’s father legally owned more than 10 firearms and that the attacker also possessed guns.
Poland, a country of 37 million people, has about 411,000 licensed gun owners. Interest in firearm ownership has been increasing.
Mass shootings remain rare in Poland. Still, three attacks occurred at schools in the central Mazovia province over four days in mid-October, killing one person and injuring many others, including children. The young perpetrators used knives or other sharp weapons.
The Krakow suspect’s military-style equipment, firearms and appearance resembled those of other “extreme right lone actors” behind attacks elsewhere in Europe, said Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague.
“We have had attempts before, but now we can say that these kinds of attacks have become successful in Poland.”
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Ciobanu reported from Warsaw, Poland. Associated Press journalist Stefanie Dazio in Berlin contributed to this report.
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