A gunman drove into Kraków’s busy Main Market Square on Saturday afternoon and opened fire from his car, killing six people and wounding 15. Hours later, police found three more bodies at his family home.
Around 3pm on Saturday, November 7 at Kraków’s Main Market Square a black Subaru drove onto the square, and the man inside started shooting at people.
Six people were killed and 15 others were wounded, including two police officers. Officials have called it Poland’s deadliest shooting since the fall of communism in 1989. Hours later, police made another grim discovery at the suspect’s family home.
A gunman in military gear
According to police, the attacker wore military-style clothing and fired at random people from his car with an AR-15-style rifle. A tram driver reported that his tram was hit as it passed near the square, shattering the cabin window.
The gunman was shot and wounded in a shootout with police a short distance away. More weapons, ammunition and military equipment were found in his car, which was registered to his father.
The four women and two men who were killed have not all been identified, but police have confirmed that one of them was a British citizen. Among the injured were people from Austria, Germany, Portugal, Russia and Britain.
Both wounded police officers needed surgery, with Polish police asking for blood donations for one of them in a social media post. According to it Senior Constable Jakub Kulik “is fighting for his life in hospital.”
Three more bodies found at his home
The suspect has been identified by Polish media as Michał O., a 24-year-old from the town of Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, around 120 miles north of Kraków. When counter-terrorism officers searched his family home, they found the bodies of two women and a man.
“In the attacker’s home, the bodies of two women and a man were found,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said. BBC reports Polish police confirmed on Sunday the bodies have been confirmed to be the 53-year-old father, 52-year-old mother and 21-year-old sister of the suspect.
“He was a normal boy. Wore a hoodie, said hello. I can’t say anything bad about him,” one neighbor said. Police say he had a legal firearms license and had never been in trouble with the law before.
Shooter had far-right views
Poland’s Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspect appeared to be “fascinated by far-right ideologies” and held “ultra-nationalist views.”
“Everything points to the fact that the shooter was influenced by far-right ideology, a matter that will also be subject to investigation,” he said.
Poland’s defense minister described the attack as an “act of terror,” Cand cybercrime officers are currently going through his online activity.
The suspect underwent several surgeries and is in custody in hospital.
Poland has declared two days of national mourning. The US ambassador to Poland, Tom Rose, called the shooting “a savage and murderous attack that’s shattered the peace of Poland.”
“America stands with Poland at this dark hour,” he wrote.
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