SIX KILLED IN KRAKOW SHOOTING AS POLAND PROBES SUSPECTED TERRORISM

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Agency Report

Polish authorities have launched a terrorism investigation after a gunman killed six people and wounded 15 others in a shooting in Krakow, with investigators saying the suspect was “fascinated by far-right ideologies”.

The 24-year-old Polish national opened fire at random on Saturday in the historic centre of Krakow, Poland’s second-largest city, in an attack Prime Minister Donald Tusk described as an act of “terrorism”.

A British national was among those killed, according to the police, while the 15 injured included citizens of Austria, Britain, Germany, Portugal and Russia, the PAP news agency reported.

Three additional bodies were later discovered at the suspect’s home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, about 150 kilometres northeast of Krakow. Police identified them as his parents and sister.

The gunman was wounded during a shootout with police and remains in critical condition in hospital. Two police officers were also injured.

The National Prosecutor’s Office said it had opened a terrorism investigation into the incident.

“I’m absolutely devastated,” Weronika Filar, 27, a Krakow resident, told AFP on Sunday.

“It’s one of the safest places on Earth genuinely… I did not expect anything like this to happen to us,” she said, adding that “our city will never be the same”.

According to police, the suspect, who was masked and dressed in military-style clothing, including a bulletproof vest, abandoned his car at an intersection and opened fire on pursuing officers with a semi-automatic rifle.

One of the injured officers was in serious but stable condition, the Interior Ministry said, as quoted by PAP. Police appealed for blood donations for the officer, identified as Jakub Kulik, who they said confronted the armed attacker without hesitation.

Images shared on social media showed the two officers firing at the suspect, with one managing to wound him despite being injured himself.

Meanwhile, Krakow’s Main Market Square, where the shooting occurred, remained cordoned off on Sunday as residents and mourners gathered to lay candles in tribute to the victims.

Police checked the bags of workers at cafes and restaurants around the square, while most souvenir shops remained closed.

Black flags and Polish flags bearing black ribbons were displayed across the city as Warsaw declared two days of national mourning beginning on Sunday.

The suspect was identified in local media reports as Michal O.

Regional police said the three bodies found at his residence were those of a 53-year-old man and two women aged 52 and 21.

“Injuries were found on the bodies, which were preliminarily assessed as gunshot wounds… Seven firearms were seized from the flat,” police said.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski added that weapons were also recovered from the suspect’s car.

Investigators quoted in Polish media said the suspect had no previous criminal record. He was reportedly a member of a shooting club alongside his father.

Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was “shocked and saddened by the appalling shooting”.