At least six dead and fifteen injured in an attack in Krakow's main square

A car broke into the Market Square, the largest in the Polish city of Krakow, at three in the afternoon this Saturday and began shooting at passers-by. At least six people have died and fifteen have been injured in the attack, as the Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, has called the attack.

The police have confirmed that they shot the assailant, who was injured and was taken to hospital, where he underwent surgery. This is a 24-year-old man of Polish nationality who acted alone, although the investigation continues and the security cameras in the area are being analyzed. Among the injured are two police officers, according to Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski.

Late into the night, Tusk reported in a press appearance in Krakow, where he went after the attack, that the police also found three dead people, two women and a man, in the assailant's home. “There are many indications that they are members of his immediate family,” the prime minister added. “This truly is an exceptional tragedy.” The leader has declared the next two days of national mourning.

Kierwinski assured in a press conference that "everything indicates that the assailant was fascinated by far-right ideology. But this requires an exhaustive investigation." “We are facing an attack: the intervention of the police prevented a greater massacre,” added the head of the Interior.

The aggressor was wearing military clothing and “a rifle with a lot of ammunition,” according to police spokesperson Katarzyna Cislo, reported at a press conference. Hundreds of bullets were also found in the car. The Minister of Defense, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz, has challenged rumors that he was a soldier and has ruled out that he belongs to the army.

According to Cislo, the attacker was carrying a camera to record the shooting and was wearing a bulletproof vest and a balaclava. “He didn't have a specific objective, that's why he went to a very busy place,” said the spokesperson. The online newspaper Onet reports that the attacker, named Michal O., is from the town of Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, in Malopolska, the same region as Krakow, about 200 kilometers away.

The region has reported that 12 of the 15 injured are in serious condition. The fatalities are four women and two men, according to the police. One of them is a foreigner, of British nationality.

One of the people in critical condition is one of the two injured police officers. In images recorded by witnesses, an agent is seen shooting the attacker with a pistol from just one or two meters away. The assailant, from the ground, in turn shoots the agent, who falls to his knees and then ends up lying on the sidewalk.

“Until now, in Poland we have not had such dramatic cases of terrorism, because that is how we must describe this cruel attack on the lives of people in Krakow,” Tusk declared to the media. The prime minister had previously called on all political parties on social media to “not play with the tragedy.” “We will clarify all the circumstances of this crime,” he promised.

The Chief Executive has defended police work in the face of those who are beginning to question whether they responded quickly. "The police reacted with lightning speed, and the officers demonstrated courage and extraordinary sacrifice," Tusk has written in X. "They need our prayers, solidarity and total support. Why is this so difficult for some to understand?" The Minister of the Interior has assured that the agents took three minutes to act.

The Polish president, Karol Nawrocki, has expressed, also in X, “great concern” about the “tragic events in the center of Krakow.” “My thoughts are with the victims, the victims and their families.”

The Minister of Justice, Waldemar Zurek, has assured that "the prosecutors, the police and all the security services are already working at the scene of the event to secure evidence and clarify the circumstances of the attack." "The State is acting. We call to remain calm and not hinder the work of the services." The authorities are collecting information from witnesses, whom they ask for collaboration by providing recordings or surveillance records.

The cybercrime central office is also investigating whether the shooter belonged to an online group, whether he posted content demonstrating radical ideology and whether there were signs that he was planning an attack.

The newspaper Gazeta Wyborzca reports that the establishments in the square sheltered those who were there and closed until the danger passed. Others ran away. "I saw a group of about 30 people running down Grodzka Street from the Market Square, some in T-shirts. They weren't shouting, they were just running. At first I thought it was some kind of demonstration, but then I heard three shots, isolated," Alicja Szczepanska, former police officer and councilor of Krakow, told this newspaper.

Mass shootings like this are not at all common in Poland, but normality is no longer what it used to be. The media treat it, in fact, as a first attack of this type. A month ago, the country experienced a series of attacks and threats by teenagers against educational centers that led to dozens of arrests, also rare events in this eastern European country.