Six people were killed and 15 wounded when a gunman opened fire in Krakow’s Main Square on Saturday, Nov. 7, prompting a terrorism investigation and two days of national mourning in Poland.
The 24-year-old suspect, a Polish man, was shot and wounded by police. Prosecutors said they opened an investigation into the murders and attempted murders of numerous people, including police officers, describing the alleged offenses as constituting a terrorist act, CBS News reported.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspect held “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views. He said authorities believed the man was fascinated by far-right ideologies. Those comments describe an initial assessment; the investigation is ongoing.
The victims at the square were four women and two men. Regional governor Krzysztof Jan Klęczar said four were Polish, while the others included a British man and a woman from an unidentified country.
Two officers who intervened remain in hospital. One was still in a coma on Sunday, while the other had woken from a coma, Klęczar said. Officials appealed for blood donations for the more seriously injured officer and credited the officers’ intervention with limiting the number of victims.
Separate deaths found at suspect’s home
Authorities also found the bodies of the suspect’s sister, mother and father at the family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 93 miles northeast of Krakow. Officials said the three likely died from gunshot wounds. These deaths are separate from the six people killed in the square; the source report did not establish who was responsible for them.
Krakow’s Main Square, a major tourist area in the Old Town, remained partly closed on Sunday as investigators worked at the scene. St. Mary’s Trumpet Call, a traditional melody played hourly from the basilica overlooking the square, was paused overnight in tribute to those killed.
The national mourning period began Sunday. The European Commission headquarters in Brussels also flew European flags at half-mast.
Reid Bentley