After shots in Krakow: A city is in shock

The center of Krakow, yesterday around 3 p.m.: A man drives into the market square and opens fire from a moving car. Apparently indiscriminate and completely arbitrary. The suspected murder weapon: a rifle, similar to the one used by the military. This is how the Polish police describe it.

Kraków Market Square is the heart of the city. At the time of the shooting there were many people there, locals and tourists. Footage from eyewitnesses shows that the shots were fired very quickly one after the other. They can be heard 21 times on it.

The shooter injured 15 people and killed six others. The victims included "three Polish women and one British citizen," says Poland's police chief Marek Boron. Two people have not yet been identified. Five foreigners were among the injured in the market square.

Two police officers critically injured

According to police reports, the man drove out of the city center after the crime, was stopped and overpowered by police officers. During his arrest, at a street intersection, he exchanged fire with the officers, was hit and arrested. Two police officers are critically injured.

After the arrest, the authorities gradually release details about the alleged perpetrator. He is therefore a young man, born in 2002, i.e. in his mid-twenties, a Polish citizen, living in a small town in southern Poland. According to the police, he is a target shooter.

Police spokesman Andrzej Fijolek says: "The man had a firearms license - as did members of his family." According to Poland's Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski, the officers found several more weapons and a lot of ammunition in the suspected perpetrator's car: "Everything indicates that he was fascinated by extreme right-wing ideologies." These clues are being further examined by the investigators.

Three dead in the suspected perpetrator's house

Late in the evening, an anti-terrorism unit was at the man's house. The emergency services found three more dead inside. Prime Minister Donald Tusk confirms to the public: "Two women and a man are dead in the attacker's house. There are many indications that it was the closest family circle." Most likely they are the man's parents and sister.

The investigation into the motives and background to the crime is ongoing.

“There has never been anything like this here before”

Krakow, Poland's second largest city, is in shock. The townspeople publish photos of the market square. You can see a lot of blue lights and extensive barriers. You can also hear the Hejnal, a traditional melody that sounds every hour from the tower of St. Mary's Church in the market square. On Saturday, the police sirens are mixed in for many hours.

"I am deeply saddened by what happened. There has never been anything like this here before," said a passer-by on Polish television. There have been no attacks of this magnitude in Poland in the recent past.

The country is currently in a very tense political situation. Wednesday is Independence Day, one of the most important holidays. But the next period will be marked by tragedy. President Karol Nawrocki has ordered national mourning for today and tomorrow.