Kraków in mourning: six dead and several injured in shooting in city center

The incident occurred around 3:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. GMT) when the perpetrator, a 24-year-old Polish national, deliberately drove a car onto the main square of the Old Town, a very busy area, before opening fire on passersby. According to a spokesperson for the local police, he fired “at random.”

The provisional death toll now stands at six victims, including four women and two men, after one of the injured died from their injuries. Among the injured are police officers, one of whom has a gunshot wound and the other is in serious condition, according to the Minister of the Interior, who communicated on X.

The attacker was subdued by police and taken to hospital. He acted alone, police confirmed. Images circulating on social media show a police officer shooting at close range at a man dressed in military attire.

“It’s a tragedy for Kraków, we’ve never seen anything like it. I saw a man driving around the square and shooting at people,” testified Annette, a witness in her sixties. Many visibly shocked and crying witnesses took refuge in the shops in the area.

The Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the Minister of the Interior went to the scene. The head of government deplored a “tragic shooting” on X. President Karol Nawrocki expressed his “immense concern” and announced that he was “in contact with the competent authorities” to obtain explanations about the circumstances of this attack.

The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, also expressed her condolences, assuring Poland that it was “not alone” in the face of this tragedy.

The motives of the attacker have not yet been established. Police found other weapons and a large quantity of ammunition in the suspect’s vehicle, Katarzyna Cislo, of the Kraków police, said on TVN24.

Donald Tusk called on politicians not to instrumentalize this tragedy for political purposes.

This incident is all the more shocking as it occurs in a context of increased vigilance in Poland, following a series of knife attacks in October. The city of Kraków, which will welcome 16.2 million visitors in 2025, is a major tourist destination.