It’s a tragedy for Krakow; we’ve never seen anything like this before,
Annette, a resident in her sixties, told Agence France-Presse after a 24-year-old gunman opened fire in the city’s Main Market Square on November 7, 2026, killing six people and injuring 15 others.
The midday attack in Poland’s second-largest city began at around 3 p.m. local time when the assailant drove a black Subaru into the historic pedestrian square and began firing randomly from the moving vehicle according to the Małopolska police. Mass shootings are rare in Poland, and around 15 million tourists visit Krakow annually, the majority passing through the Main Square where the 14th-century Gothic St. Mary’s Basilica stands. Witnesses reported hearing gunshots that many initially mistook for fireworks before crowds fled into narrow streets and nearby shops as described by resident Neil Thaxton. We had just walked through the main square and heard the gunshots,
Neil Thaxton and his wife, Nicky, who survived the attack, wrote on Facebook.
We thought it was fireworks then people started running, we went into a gift shop and the staff took us in the back of the shop and locked the doors and turned the lights off.
Marie-Ange Collaer was visiting with her family from Brussels and noted that they literally ran for their lives and managed to hide from the bullets flying around, writing on Facebook that they were lying on the floor in a shop like in a bad movie whilst hearing bullets everywhere.
British tourist Andy Hill told the BBC that it did not feel real and described the instantaneous moment required to make a decision to run or stand still amidst shock before diving through a doorway and taking refuge behind windows.
Wearing military-style fatigues and body armor, the shooter engaged in what police described as a wild ride
around the square according to Katarzyna Cisło. Two police officers confronted the gunman and exchanged fire with him within minutes, arresting him after he was wounded as reported by Ynetnews. Both responding officers were injured in the exchange, with one fighting for his life in critical condition according to reports.
Polish Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek posted on social media early on Sunday that Senior Constable Jakub Kulik was fighting for his life in hospital after confronting the shooter, stating that one of his lungs was not functioning and he needed every drop of blood he could get.
Małopolska Police released a statement Saturday afternoon denying reports that a police officer died and that another perpetrator was being sought, confirming that the only known perpetrator was in police custody.
Investigators later discovered three more bodies—identified as the gunman’s 53-year-old father, 52-year-old mother, and 21-year-old sister—at the suspect’s family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, roughly 150 kilometers away according to Al Jazeera. Daniel Prokopowicz, a spokesperson for the National Prosecutor’s Office, stated it was highly likely that the killings in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski and Krakow were carried out by the same person, though investigations remained ongoing.
The dead in the market square included four women and two men, among them a British national according to CNBC, while the 15 injured included foreign citizens from Austria, Germany, Portugal, Russia, and Britain according to Al Jazeera. The Portuguese Foreign Ministry stated that a Portuguese woman was among the injured and was in hospital without providing further details.
Polish officials stated that the attacker held very radical
and ultra-nationalistic
views according to Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński. Poland’s National Prosecutor’s Office opened a formal terrorism investigation into the mass shooting according to Al Jazeera, classifying it as an act intended to seriously intimidate a large number of people according to Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters that authorities found numerous other weapons and ammunition in the suspect’s car, including a military-style backpack, magazines, and a bayonet in the boot as reported by Radio Kielce.
Polish Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz called the shooting an act of terror on the people of Kraków. In Kraków, the traditional hourly trumpet call from St. Mary’s Basilica was suspended for 12 hours, marking the first time the custom has stopped since 1939 according to Al Jazeera.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk classified the assault during an evening briefing in Warsaw as an unprecedented act of terrorism, stating we have the next acts of this tragedy,
reported by CNBC. Kraków authorities announced that the square and adjoining streets, as well as sections along the perpetrator’s escape route, would be closed for several hours.
International leaders offered condolences and support following the violence. U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose issued a statement declaring, America stands with Poland at this dark hour as Poland stands with her beloved citizens of Krakow,
reported by CBS News, while American tourist Marylin Green told The Associated Press that she felt very sad that the event happened because they heard it was a safe country. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong stated she was shocked by the terrible shooting and expressed deepest sympathies to the loved ones of those killed and injured, noting that Australian officials were making urgent enquiries in Poland.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called the shooting a tragedy that will be felt far beyond Poland,
according to The Independent, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned the assault as a shocking crime according to Kyiv Post.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed condolences to Poland following the violence, and Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdańsk, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, expressed shock at the violence while Kraków Bishop Robert Chrząszcz and other religious figures offered messages of prayer and condolences.
Earlier coverage: Gunman Kills Six and Injures 15 in Krakow Shooting