Polish PM Donald Tusk
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has referred to footage showing bodies at the home of the man suspected of carrying out a mass shooting in Krakow, as investigators probe the background of an attack that left six people dead and 15 injured.
The city, Poland’s second-largest, receives around 15 million visitors a year, many of whom visit the Main Market Square. Krakow’s municipal transport company said a tram driver reported that his vehicle had been shot at by a man in a moving car near the square, shattering the cabin window.
The suspect, a Polish citizen, drove through the crowded square and opened fire at multiple locations with an automatic weapon, authorities said. “Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” Kierwiński said, adding that the suspect held “very radical” views. Poland’s defence minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz described the shooting as an “act of terror” against the people of Krakow. Animal rights group OTOZ Animals said the attacker also shot two horses; both survived, though one was hit in the leg.
Police later shot and wounded him before taking him to hospital for surgery. The minister did not disclose the man’s identity. The attack also affected transport and the square’s horse-drawn carriage trade.
The attack took place on Saturday afternoon in Krakow’s Main Market Square, a major tourist hub in the heart of the Old Town.
Tusk described the discovery late Saturday as “the next acts of this tragedy”. Meanwhile, interior minister Marcin Kierwiński said the 25-year-old suspect was influenced by far-right ideologies, describing his views as “very radical” and “ultranationalistic”. Speaking at a news conference on Sunday, the PM said three people, two women and a man, were found dead inside the home of the suspect, and were likely close members of his family.