Three bodies found at Krakow gunman's home, Tusk says

A gunman drove into Krakow's Main Market Square on Saturday afternoon and fired at random from his car, killing six people and wounding 15 before police shot him, and three more bodies were found hours later at his home.

Until now in Poland, we haven't had such drastic cases of terrorism

The attacker is a 24-year-old Polish citizen who was shot and wounded in a confrontation with officers a short distance from where the firing began, then taken to a hospital for treatment, authorities said. He kept shooting at police even after he was hit. Krakow police said he acted alone and denied reports that a second person was involved.

How the attack unfolded

Police began receiving reports at about 3 p.m. local time that a man had opened fire from a car on Main Market Square. Initial information suggested the shots were fired from a passing vehicle, the local government said, near Slawkowska Street just off the square. The attacker drove to several spots and opened fire at each stop, authorities said.

Katarzyna Cisło, a Krakow police spokesperson, said the attacker wore military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest and used a military-type long gun, and that other weapons and ammunition were found in his car. She described a "wild ride" around the square, which she said was why people were wounded at several locations.

Four women and two men were killed. At least three of the women were Polish and one of the dead was a British citizen, authorities said. Two of those killed had not been identified, police commander Marek Boroń said, and officials have not disclosed the nationalities of all the victims.

Fifteen people were wounded, five of them foreign nationals, police said. Two police officers were seriously injured: one was shot once and the other was hit three times and was in very critical condition and undergoing surgery, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński wrote on X. Two of the injured were treated and released within hours, and it was not clear how many of them had been shot.

Three relatives found dead

Hours after the attack, Tusk said authorities had found the bodies of three of the suspect's close family members, two women and a man, inside his home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a city about 93 miles (150 kilometers) northeast of Krakow. Much suggested they were members of his immediate family, he said.

Andrzej Fijołek, a deputy inspector at Police National Headquarters, said the three, found in an apartment, are believed to be the suspect's parents and sister. Kierwiński described the attacker as a man in his mid-20s from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski who holds "very radical" and "ultranationalistic" views.

Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies

The authorities have not released the attacker's name, and Tusk said police were investigating his background and all the circumstances of the attack.

Tusk named the wounded officers as senior constable Jakub Kulik and senior constable Artur Moranski, called them "true heroes" and said they had likely saved many lives while risking their own. Their conditions were serious, he said, but they were in good hands. Kierwiński wrote on X that officers in Krakow had risked their lives to intervene and that the attacker was quickly apprehended because of them.

Tusk, who said he was being kept informed by the interior minister, traveled to Krakow from Warsaw on Saturday. President Karol Nawrocki, who declared two days of national mourning, said he remained in contact with the relevant services and expected a full clarification of the circumstances. The head of the National Security Bureau was on his way to Krakow, Nawrocki said.

Scenes from the square

Annette, a woman in her sixties, told Agence France-Presse that she saw a man shooting at people and walking around the square. It was a tragedy for Krakow, she said, and the city had never seen anything like it.

Videos posted on social media by witnesses show people running from the square to take cover in the small streets nearby, and first responders trying to resuscitate victims. In one, a police officer repeatedly shoots the attacker as he lies on the street, then slowly collapses to the ground himself.

Photographs showed a Polish Medical Air Rescue helicopter after it landed in the square, and emergency services urged people to stay away from areas where officers and rescue workers were operating.

Thirteen people were hospitalized in serious condition, authorities said, though that figure may include the gunman, who underwent surgery after being shot.

Mourning and tighter security

Krakow will be in official mourning until Wednesday, Mayor Łukasz Gibała said, and the city government said the period runs through Nov. 11. Gibała vowed that the city would remain open to visitors, saying in a video posted on X: "The square will belong to us again." In Warsaw, Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski announced extra security measures, including road barriers along main streets in the old town.

Rare violence in Poland

Deadly shootings are extremely rare in Poland, a European Union and NATO member of 37 million people, and Saturday's attack was the country's deadliest shooting since the fall of communism in 1989, Al Jazeera reported. Firearms licenses have risen sharply, with more than 50,000 issued in 2025 and 411,000 held in total, according to police figures.

The attacker's military gear, guns and overall look were similar to those of other "extreme right lone actors" who have carried out attacks around Europe, said Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Center for Counterterrorism in The Hague.

We have had attempts before, but now we can say that these kinds of attacks have become successful in Poland.

Poland has been on alert since a series of attacks in October. Three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia took place within four days in mid-October, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children, the AP reported. Tusk denounced the October stabbings as a "cult of violence".

Condolences and open questions

Kaja Kallas, the European Union's top diplomat, wrote on X that the loss of life in Krakow would be felt far beyond Poland and that Poland does not stand alone. Radoslaw Sikorski, Poland's foreign minister, said he was receiving dozens of messages from foreign ministers around the world offering condolences. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany stands "shoulder to shoulder with Poland as a friend and partner".

Tom Rose, the US ambassador to Poland, wrote on X that the shooting was "a savage and murderous attack that's shattered the peace of Poland." A State Department spokesperson told CBS News it was not aware of any U.S. citizens being harmed. British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was shocked and saddened by the shooting and that his thoughts were with the families of those killed.

Descriptions of the weapon have differed. Cisło said the attacker used a military-type long gun, while police said he fired a semi-automatic rifle similar to a US AR-15, according to Al Jazeera, and Kierwiński said he used an automatic rifle. It was not immediately clear whether that weapon or the others found in his car were legally held, the AP reported.

Krakow is Poland's second-largest city and a popular tourist destination, drawing about 15 million visitors a year, and lies about 155 miles (250 kilometers) south of Warsaw. The Main Market Square, where the shooting happened, sits in the heart of the Old Town.