A gunman killed six people and wounded fifteen others on the crowded Main Market Square in Kraków on Saturday afternoon.
The 24-year-old assailant drove a black Subaru Impreza onto the central square just after 3 p.m., according to NRC. Clad in a full military uniform and a balaclava, the man fired a machine gun from his car window at pedestrians on the historic plaza before driving deeper into the city center to shoot at a moving tram.
Six victims died in the attack, including four women and two men, while fifteen others were hospitalized with injuries. Among the wounded were several carriage drivers and five foreign nationals, as reported by NOS.
The two officers who intervened and subdued the shooter were also hospitalized, according to NOS. One of the officers woke up from a coma after being admitted with severe injuries, while the other officer remained in a stable condition.
Authorities identified the shooter as the 24-year-old Michal O., according to reporting by NRC and NOS. Three people were also found dead in his parental home.
Local residents described him as a normal young person, though he had previously boasted on social media about owning a weapon. Police confirmed that the attacker acted alone, dismissing reports of a second perpetrator, as noted by Knack.
The Polish National Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation into a crime with a terrorist character, according to NOS. Minister of Internal Affairs Marcin Kierwinski stated that everything points to the shooter being fascinated by far-right ideologies and being an ultranationalist.
Donald Tusk described the shooting as tragic during a briefing in Kraków, praising the police officers who acted with danger to their own lives. Kraków Lukasz Gibala stated in a video message that violence will not change the city and promised that the Market Square would soon reopen.
Following at least three operations, the suspect died early Monday morning in the hospital, the Polish police announced in a statement on X. The provincial governor told the news broadcaster TVN24:
There has been a continuous battle to save this man’s life, despite the crime he had committed,
Provincial governor, reported by NOS
The condition of the fifteen injured people and the hospitalized police officers remains unchanged, according to the provincial governor.