What is known about the Krakow attack: six dead in the shooting and another three at the home of the author, 24 years old and with far-right ideas

Polish authorities are investigating the circumstances of a tragic event that has shocked Krakow, the country's second largest city. A 24-year-old young man of Polish nationality drove a car into the main square of Krakow this Saturday and opened fire indiscriminately against passers-by who were passing by at that time, around 3:00 p.m.

In total, six people died and another 16 were injured and had to be hospitalized as a result of the shooting, which has already been described by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk as an act of "terrorism" and has announced that Monday and Tuesday will be days of national mourning. The attacker was able to be subdued by police officers, who took him injured to a hospital as a detainee.

To these facts we must add a discovery, late on Saturday, in the aggressor's home that further complicates the investigation of what happened. Three lifeless bodies, two women and a man, have been located at their home, "probably direct relatives" of the detainee, Tusk confirmed.

Rapid Police Response

The attack occurred around 3:00 p.m. this Saturday afternoon - the same time in mainland Spain - when the detainee entered the pedestrian plaza of the Krakow Market, the point of greatest tourist interest in the city, at the wheel of a dark-colored Subaru and fired randomly at the crowd concentrated in the vicinity of the emblematic church of Santa María.

The first armed officers arrived at the scene three minutes after receiving the first report of the shooting, Police Chief Inspector Marek Boroń reported.

After spreading panic, the attacker fled at high speed, pursued by the Police, until colliding with a white vehicle at an intersection. The man got out of the car and exchanged shots with the officers, who neutralized him, but were injured.

For the Polish Interior Minister, Marcin Kierwinski, this quick response by the agents "avoided a much greater tragedy."

The attacker, with extreme right-wing ideas, acted alone

After the attack, the Police explained that the perpetrator is "a citizen of the Republic of Poland", aged 24, dressed in military-style tactical clothing with a helmet, balaclava, bulletproof vest and used an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. In his car, the agents have seized abundant ammunition, various other weapons, a military backpack and a bayonet in the trunk. In addition, he carried a camera to record his actions.

The Polish Interior Minister has indicated that the first investigations indicate that the perpetrator of the attack acted alone and had "very, very radical opinions." "I was fascinated by far-right ideologies," he described. "Several weapons were found in his car (...). He fired an automatic weapon and came from the town of Swietokrzyskie, he is of Polish nationality and was born in 2002," Kierwinski detailed.

According to the Police, the attacker had a legal weapons license and had no police record. Deputy Inspector Andrzej Fijołek, spokesman for the Chief of Police, has indicated that the suspect used one of the weapons legally registered in his name.

For his part, the Minister of Defense, Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, stressed that the shooter "has never had any relationship with the Polish Army."

The perpetrator is injured after being shot by officers before being subdued and remains in a hospital in Krakow, where he has undergone several surgeries.

Six dead and sixteen injured, including police officers

As detailed by the Police, the deceased are four women and two men, including a British citizen and three Polish women, while the other two victims have not yet been identified.

For its part, among the 16 hospitalized as a result of the shooting there are "five non-Polish citizens", including a Portuguese woman, as confirmed by the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In turn, among the injured there are also two police officers, one with a gunshot wound and the second with three gunshot wounds who is "very serious", which is why he had to undergo surgery.

Three more bodies found in the attacker's house

"This is an extraordinary tragedy," lamented the Polish Prime Minister when announcing the discovery of two women and a man at the suspect's home in the town of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 200 kilometers north of Krakow. "There are many indications that they are members of his closest family," explained Donald Tusk.