Poland Opens Terror Investigation Into Krakow Shooting as Nation Begins Two Days of Mourning

Poland opened a terrorism investigation into the Krakow shooting on Sunday and began two days of national mourning, a day after a gunman killed six people in the city’s Main Market Square.

Justice Minister Waldemar Zurek said the attack was being investigated by the branch of the national prosecutor’s office that handles terrorist offences. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the suspect appeared to be fascinated by far-right ideologies. Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the shooting an act of terrorism, and Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz used the same word.

Police also found three bodies at the suspect’s home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, about 200 kilometres north of Krakow, on Saturday night. Investigators said the dead were the suspect’s 53-year-old father, 52-year-old mother and 21-year-old sister, and that early examinations pointed to gunshot wounds. Seven firearms were recovered from the apartment.

The suspect, a 24-year-old Polish national from Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, was shot and wounded by police during the attack and remained in hospital in critical condition on Sunday. Polish media named him as Michal O. Police said he had no criminal record and held a firearms licence, and Polish media reported that he was a member of a shooting club with his father. Officers recovered a semi-automatic rifle similar to an AR-15 from his vehicle, along with other weapons and ammunition.

Square closed as mourners leave candles

On Sunday, the Main Market Square and nearby streets stayed closed, with police allowing only essential workers through. Cafes near the square were shut, flags at city hall flew at half-mast, and mourners placed candles at several spots around the square. The traditional trumpet call from St Mary’s church was suspended for 12 hours to mark the deaths, the first time that has happened since 1939, according to the Polish news agency PAP.

President Karol Nawrocki declared national mourning for November 8 and 9. Police in Warsaw said on Saturday that they were strengthening security in busy areas popular with tourists, and barriers were placed on streets leading to Krakowskie Przedmiescie in the capital’s historic centre.

Six people were killed in the attack on Saturday afternoon: four women and two men. They included three Polish women aged 61, 53 and 47, a 50-year-old Polish man, a 32-year-old British man and a 51-year-old foreign woman whose identity was still under investigation on Sunday. At least 15 others were wounded, including two police officers and citizens of Austria, Britain, Germany, Portugal and Russia, according to PAP.

Police said the gunman drove a car onto the square at about 3 p.m. local time and fired at random at people nearby. He was dressed in military-style clothing and wore a mask and a bulletproof vest, according to police.

Tusk praised two officers, Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Moranski, who confronted the gunman at close range. “They likely saved many human lives, disregarding the risk to their own,” Tusk wrote on X. Police issued an urgent appeal for blood donations for Kulik, who was fighting for his life in hospital. The other officer was in serious but stable condition, according to the Interior Ministry.

Deadliest shooting in Poland in decades

The shooting was Poland’s deadliest in decades, and the first mass shooting of its kind in the country since the fall of communism in 1989. It came after a string of school stabbings in October that officials linked to extremist content online, and it deepened public concern about safety in a country that has long prided itself on lower levels of violent crime than many of its western European neighbours.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was shocked and saddened by the shooting and called it an appalling incident. The motive for the attack had not been established by Sunday morning, and counter-terrorism officers, forensic specialists and a prosecutor were working at the scene in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski through the night.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and AFP.