At least six people have lost their lives and more than a dozen have been injured by the gunshots fired by an individual who opened fire indiscriminately from a car in the heart of the Polish city of Krakow. Subsequently, the authorities found three more bodies in the home of the attacker.
"Update. One of the injured people in the incident at the Main Market Square in Krakow has died. So far, six people have died, four women and two men", the Police reported in a statement.
In an initial assessment, the security forces had reported five fatalities and specified that the attacker had been hit by agents’ gunfire and taken to a hospital. "Emergency services are working at the scene", the Police said in an earlier statement.
The attack unfolded around 3:00 p.m., when a man arrived at the Market Square in a vehicle and began firing without discriminating targets. "The person responsible has been detained. There are injured people, including police officers", the Police said at first.
The attacker responded to police fire before being finally subdued and arrested. "The person responsible for the incident at Krakow’s Main Market Square is a citizen of the Republic of Poland", the Police explained, which detailed that he was wearing military-type camouflage clothing and was carrying a military rifle that has already been seized in the car, along with a large amount of ammunition and other weapons.
Later, the Polish prime minister, Donald Tusk, announced the discovery of three more bodies in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, in the attacker’s family home. "This is an extraordinary tragedy. Today, many clues indicate that they are members of his closest family", Tusk explained. In addition, the head of the Government said that Monday and Tuesday will be days of national mourning.
The Police have corroborated this information. "The bodies of three people, two women and one man, have been found in the residence in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski of the man detained in Krakow", the Police said.
From Krakow City Hall, citizens have been asked "not to approach the area where the Police and emergency services are working". The mayor, Lukasz Gibala, has declared municipal mourning until November 11.
The Minister of Justice, Waldemar Zurek, has confirmed that there are two injured agents, one of them in a very serious condition and undergoing surgery after receiving three gunshot wounds. He has also denounced the "enormous tragedy" experienced in Market Square. "My heart is with the families and loved ones of the victims of this unimaginable tragedy," he said.
Zurek indicated that the author of the shooting is injured and in custody. "Prosecutors, police, and all services are already on the scene collecting evidence and investigating the circumstances of the attack. The State is functioning. We ask for calm and not to hinder the work of emergency services. The person responsible for this crime will be brought before justice," he added.
Attacker profile and investigation underway
The Polish Minister of the Interior, Marcin Kierwinski, pointed out that the attacker is a 24-year-old Polish citizen with "ultranationalist" ideology. "Everything seems to indicate that the person responsible had very radical ideas. Several weapons have been found in his car (...). He fired an automatic weapon and came from Swietokrzyskie, he is of Polish nationality and was born in 2002," Kierwinski explained, according to the Polish press.
Among the lines of investigation, it is considered that the rifle could have come from the home of his own parents, since his father had a firearms license. "There is also an investigation in the house where he lived. For obvious reasons, counterterrorism units participate in these operations," he said.
The minister pointed out that one of the fatalities is of foreign nationality and has confirmed a total of 16 injured who have been taken to different hospitals, two of whom have already been discharged. Among the injured are the attacker himself and two police officers: one with a gunshot wound and out of danger, and another with three gunshot wounds and in a very serious condition.
The author of the attack remains admitted to a hospital in Krakow, after being hit by the agents' gunfire before being subdued. He has undergone an initial operation and a second surgical intervention has begun.
Kierwinski took the opportunity to deny rumors about the involvement of more shooters and insisted that, for the moment, the Police do not have indications of other suspects.
For another part, the minister has highlighted the speed of the police response, which "prevented a much greater tragedy". The first shots by the agents occurred just three minutes after the initial warning was received.
The Prosecutor's Office has indicated that seven investigators continue working on the ground "to determine all the circumstances, if there was any accomplice, check several sites, and determine whether the situation is completely under control".
From the opposition, the leader of the Law and Justice Party (PiS), Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has expressed his "most sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims". "This is an unimaginable tragedy. The person responsible for this crime has to be held accountable and the circumstances of the attack must be thoroughly clarified," he stated. "The security of citizens is fundamental. This tragedy should never have happened," he added.