Kraków Mass Shooting: Six Dead in Main Market Square Attack
A 25-year-old gunman killed six people and wounded 15 in one of Europe's most famous public squares.
By Vanessa Lopez ·
Six people died on Nov. 7 after a gunman opened fire on pedestrians in Kraków’s Main Market Square. More than a dozen others were injured. The attack turned a busy tourist and pilgrimage site into a scene of chaos.
Police said the suspect, a 25-year-old Polish citizen, drove a vehicle into the square from the direction of Slawkowska Street shortly after 3 p.m. He began shooting at passersby. The death toll rose to six later in the afternoon. Fifteen people were wounded, including two police officers.
Katarzyna Cislo, a spokeswoman for the Kraków Police, stated the suspect used a military-type long gun. Police recovered other firearms and ammunition from his vehicle. The gunman wore military-style clothing and a bulletproof vest. Authorities shot and arrested him.
Before leaving his family home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, the suspect killed his parents and sister, according to Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the suspect held radical views and was fascinated by far-right ideologies. Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz denied reports that the man served in the Polish military.
Cardinal Grzegorz Rys, who lives in the Archbishops’ Palace roughly 260 feet from the square, urged Poles to stand together. He wrote that the violence was terrible and that anyone could have been walking through the square when bullets struck bystanders. He invited residents to a special Sunday Mass at St. Mary’s Basilica, which overlooks the site of the attack.
Archbishop Tadeusz Wojda of Gdansk, president of the Polish bishops’ conference, expressed shock and spiritual solidarity with the victims. Bishop Artur Wazny of Sosnowiec described the brutality as incomprehensible. U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose called the event a savage and murderous attack.
Witnesses described the immediate aftermath. Dominik Bartelak of Cafe Una said the gunman fired at outdoor tables where people sat. He noted that a woman was killed near St. Mary’s Basilica and that a helicopter landed on the nearby Small Market Square for resuscitation efforts.
European leaders reacted quickly. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a shocking crime. French President Emmanuel Macron expressed shock and sorrow. Mass shootings are rare in Poland, which the U.S. State Department describes as generally safe. Authorities in Warsaw announced additional security measures in the historic Old Town.
