Kraków shooting: six killed in Main Market Square, three more found dead at suspect’s home, Tusk calls it terrorism

A gunman killed six people and wounded 16 in Kraków’s Main Market Square on Saturday 7 November, in what Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an act of “terrorism”. Police later found three more bodies at the suspect’s home. Poland declared two days of national mourning, and the National Prosecutor’s Office has classified the attack as a terrorist offence, according to Euronews.

What happened in Kraków

At about 3 p.m. local time, a man in military-style clothing drove a car onto the square, a busy tourist area in the city’s Old Town, and opened fire on people there, Euronews and Al Jazeera reported, citing Polish police. Officers exchanged fire with him; he was wounded, detained and taken to hospital. Police said he acted alone and checked his vehicle for explosives. Residents nearby were evacuated and the surrounding streets were closed.

Of the six people killed in the square, four were women and two were men, Euronews reported. Police chief Marek Boron said a British national was among the dead, according to Al Jazeera. Citizens of Austria, the United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal and Russia were reported among the injured. Two police officers were hurt; Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said one of them is in a critical condition. Tusk named the officers who detained the suspect as senior constables Jakub Kulik and Artur Morański and called them “true heroes”.

The suspect and the investigation

Police said the suspect is a 24-year-old Polish citizen from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski in south-eastern Poland, with no previous convictions and a firearms licence. He carried a semi-automatic rifle similar to an AR-15 and a pistol, and police seized further weapons and a large amount of ammunition from his car, Euronews reported. Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz denied reports that he was a soldier, saying he “has never had anything to do with the military”.

Kierwiński said the man appeared to be “fascinated by far-right ideologies” and held ultra-nationalist views, Al Jazeera reported. Hours after the shooting, police found the bodies of three people at his home. Tusk said “much” suggested they were members of his immediate family, and Euronews reported that they were reportedly the suspect’s father, mother and sister, with gunshot wounds. Euronews cited the National Prosecutor’s Office as opening an investigation on Sunday.

Tusk said: “Until now in Poland, we haven’t had such drastic cases of terrorism,” according to Al Jazeera, which described it as the country’s deadliest shooting since 1989.

Reactions and support for victims

Foreign leaders expressed solidarity. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany stands “shoulder to shoulder with Poland”, and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote that “Poland does not stand alone”, according to Al Jazeera. On 9 November UN Secretary-General António Guterres’s spokesperson issued a statement strongly condemning the shooting.

In London, the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority said that people injured or bereaved in the attack may apply to the Victims of Overseas Terrorism Compensation Scheme 2012 if they are British, EU, EEA or Swiss citizens ordinarily resident in the UK, members of the UK armed forces, or their close relatives, subject to other criteria. Details are in the UK government notice on compensation.

Officials had not released the suspect’s name in the reports read, and the nationalities of some victims had not been fully disclosed. Figures come from Polish authorities as quoted by the outlets named and may change as the investigation continues.