Poland opens terror probe into deadly Krakow attack; shooter likely inspired by far-right ideology

Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office said Sunday it had launched a terrorism investigation into the mass shooting in Krakow, where six people were killed and 15 others wounded before police shot and wounded the gunman.

Prosecutors said they had opened an investigation into the murder and attempted murder of numerous people, including police officers, with the attack on Saturday “constituting a terrorist offense.”

A 24-year-old Polish national drove into the city center and opened fire Saturday in Main Square, in the heart of Krakow’s historic Old Town and a major tourist hub in Poland’s second-largest city.

Four women and two men were killed in the shooting. Three of the women and one of the men were Polish, while a man from the UK and a woman from an unidentified foreign country were also among the dead.

Five non-Poles were among the wounded, from the UK, Portugal, Russia, Germany, and Austria.

Poland began two days of national mourning on Sunday as police bolstered security after the attack, which the government said was likely inspired by far-right ideology. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the shooting an act of “terrorism,” while Poland’s defense minister described it as an “act of terror.”

The usually busy site of the attack remained sealed off with red-and-white tape as mourners brought candles in tribute to the victims. Police checked the bags of workers at cafes and restaurants in the square; most souvenir shops remained closed, and black flags and Polish flags with black ribbons were seen around the city.

The traditional hourly trumpet call from St. Mary’s church on the square was suspended for 12 hours to commemorate the dead, the first time this has happened since 1939, the state news agency PAP reported.

“I’m absolutely devastated,” Krakow resident Weronika Filar, 27, said Sunday. “It’s one of the safest places on Earth genuinely… I did not expect anything like this to happen to us.”

“Our city will never be the same,” she added.

Marie-Ange Collaer, who was visiting Krakow from Brussels with her family, wrote on Facebook that they had survived by hiding in a nearby shop.

“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.”

Collaer said her family was shaken and “quite in shock” after returning to their hotel, but everyone was grateful to be alive.

“We saw a few that did not make it, true horror,” she wrote.

UK resident Neil Thaxton said he and his wife, Nicky, had just walked through the main square when they heard the gunshots. “We thought it was fireworks, then people started running, we went into a gift shop and the staff took us in the back of the shop and locked the doors and turned the lights off,” he wrote on Facebook.

Authorities said the gunman was masked and dressed in military garb, including a bulletproof vest. He left his car at an intersection and started shooting at police officers with a semi-automatic rifle, according to police.

Social media images showed two officers firing at the gunman, with one managing to wound him despite his own injuries. Videos posted by witnesses also showed people fleeing into nearby streets and first responders attempting to resuscitate victims.

The two police officers who stopped the gunman remained in hospital Sunday. One was still in a coma, while the other had woken from a coma, regional governor Krzysztof Jan Kleczar said.

“If it weren’t for the efficient and selfless intervention of these two young men, the number of victims could have been significantly higher,” Kleczar said.

Police issued an urgent appeal for blood for one of the two injured officers who was “fighting for his life in hospital.”

Prime Minister Donald Tusk identified the officers as Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Moranski.

“Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Moranski are true heroes,” Tusk said on Saturday in a post on X. “They likely saved many human lives, disregarding the risk to their own.”

The perpetrator is also in a critical state, having been operated on multiple times. There was confusion on Saturday about the shooter’s age, with authorities first saying 24 and later 25. On Sunday, they confirmed that he is 24.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspect held “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views. “Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” Kierwiński said.

Authorities later found the bodies of the suspect’s parents and sister at the family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, northeast of Krakow. The victims were a 53-year-old man and two women aged 52 and 21.

Prosecutor’s Office spokesperson Daniel Prokopowicz said it was “highly likely” that the killings in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Krakow were carried out by the same person, but that investigations were ongoing.

The bodies had gunshot wounds, and seven firearms and a “significant” quantity of ammunition were recovered from the property, Prokopowicz added.

“When combined with findings made elsewhere in Krakow, this brings the total to 11 firearms – which aligns with our records regarding the number of weapons for which permits had been issued, both to the perpetrator and his father,” he said.

The suspect’s father legally owned more than 10 guns, and the attacker also owned firearms. Local officials said seven weapons were seized from the family home, while four were recovered from the gunman or his car.

The suspect, identified in Polish media as Michal O., had no previous criminal record and was a member of a shooting club along with his father, according to investigators quoted in Polish media.

The Swit shooting club in Starachowice, where he is believed to have trained, said it offered only “static shooting,” involving firing from a fixed position at a stationary target, and said the suspect “was never trained in our club in the areas of dynamic, tactical or combat shooting.”