Six people have been killed and at least 15 injured after a gunman opened fire from a car in Krakow’s Main Market Square, Polish authorities said. Three further people, believed to be relatives of the suspect, were later found dead at his home.
The attack happened at about 3pm local time on Saturday, when the alleged shooter began firing at random people from his vehicle. The victims killed in the square were four women and two men, police said.
The suspect, a 25-year-old Polish citizen, was shot and wounded during a confrontation with police a short distance from the scene. He was taken to hospital and placed in custody.
Two police officers were among those injured, Poland’s interior minister, Marcin Kierwiński, said. One of them was in a serious condition.
Krakow police said the gunman had acted alone. A police spokesperson, Katarzyna Cisło, said he was wearing military-style fatigues and had used a military-type long gun.
Officers found ammunition and numerous pieces of other weapons in the suspect’s car, Ms Cisło told TVN24.
Mr Kierwiński said there were indications that the suspect was fascinated by far-right ideology and held “very radical” and “ultra-nationalistic” views.
Five of the wounded were foreign nationals, the interior minister said, while another foreign national was among those killed. A US State Department spokesperson said there was no information at that time that any American citizens had been harmed.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said police were investigating “the background and all the circumstances of the attack”. He later travelled from Warsaw to Krakow, a government spokesperson said.
Krakow mayor Łukasz Gibała said the city would remain in official mourning until Wednesday, but insisted it would stay open to visitors.
“The square will belong to us again,” Mr Gibała said in a video message.
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland, an EU and Nato member with a population of 38 million. A woman in her sixties, identified as Annette, told Agence France-Presse: “I saw a man shooting at people and walking around the square. It’s a tragedy for Krakow; we’ve never seen anything like this before.”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas offered her condolences, saying the loss of life would be felt beyond Poland and that the country did not stand alone.
