On November 7, 2026, police guarded entry to an area in the historic center of Krakow, Poland, where a gunman opened fire, killing six people and wounding around 12 others. Police said shots were fired from a car that crashed into the center in the afternoon, after which an officer shot and killed the gunman.
Bartosz Šedlik | AFP | Getty Images
Poland began two days of national mourning on Sunday after police shot and killed a 24-year-old man with far-right views after he drove into Krakow’s busy central square and opened fire, killing six people and wounding 15 others.
The attack, described by Poland’s defense minister as a “terrorist act”, occurred on Saturday in the main square in the center of Krakow’s Old Town, a major tourist hub in the country’s second city.
By Saturday evening, mourners had left candles in memory of the victims. The square remained partially closed Sunday morning as authorities continued their investigation.
The Trumpet Call of St. Mary, a traditional five-note melody played every hour from the tallest tower of St. Mary’s Cathedral in the main square, was suspended overnight in memory of the victims. It was the first time since World War II that the telephone line had been disconnected.
Authorities also found the bodies of the attacker’s sister, mother and father at the man’s family home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a city about 150 kilometers northeast of Krakow. They likely died from gunshot wounds.
Witnesses hid in a nearby store to avoid bullets.
Marie-Ange Koller wrote on Facebook that she and her family survived the shooting while traveling from Brussels to Krakow.
“We literally ran for our lives and managed to hide from the flying bullets,” she wrote. “They’re lying on the floor in a store like in a bad cop movie, with gunshots everywhere.”
After returning to the hotel, Koller said her family was shaken and “quite in shock” but grateful that everyone was alive.
“We saw some people who didn’t make it. It was really scary,” she wrote.
Neil Thaxton and his wife Nicky, who live in the UK, also survived the attack.
“We were just walking through the main square when we heard gunshots,” Thaxton wrote on Facebook. “We thought it was fireworks and people started running, and when we entered the gift shop, the staff took us to the back of the store, locked the doors and turned off the lights.”
Police officers portrayed as heroes
Prosecutors announced on Sunday that they had opened an investigation into the murders and attempted murders of numerous people, including police officers, saying the acts “constitute terrorist crimes.”
Four women and two men were killed in the shooting in the main square. Malopolska region governor Krzysztof Jan Krenzal said on Sunday that the three women and one man were Polish. The dead also included a British man and an unidentified woman from another country.
The two officers who stopped the gunman remain in the hospital in what authorities hailed as a heroic act. One of them remains in a coma, but the other has regained consciousness, Krenzal said. Authorities appealed for blood donations to help the most seriously injured police officers.
“If it were not for the efficient and selfless intervention of these two young men, the number of victims would have been much higher,” Krenzal said.
The injured included five foreigners. They come from England, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria.
The suspect has also undergone multiple surgeries and is in critical condition. There was confusion about his age on Saturday, with authorities initially saying he was 24 and then 25, but on Sunday authorities confirmed he was 24.
Poland’s first tragic mass murder
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspect had “very radical” and “ultranationalist” views.
“Everything points to his fascination with far-right ideology,” Kierwinski said at a news conference.
Video posted by witnesses on social media showed people fleeing the square and taking shelter in small nearby streets, and emergency workers trying to revive the victims. One video shows a police officer repeatedly shooting an assailant as he lies on the street. The officer then slowly fell to the ground.
Local officials in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski announced that seven weapons were seized from the family’s home, bringing the total number of weapons recovered to 11, including four that were found either on the suspect or in a car in Krakow. Both father and son had gun licenses.
Approximately 411,000 people in Poland, which has a population of 37 million people, hold a gun license, and interest in gun ownership is increasing.
The Swit Shooting Club in Starahovice, where the suspect is said to have trained, issued a statement on Sunday saying it only offers “static shooting” – firing from a fixed position at stationary targets. The club added that the suspect “has never received any training in the areas of dynamic shooting, tactical shooting, or combat shooting at our club.”
Mass shootings are rare in Poland. However, in mid-October, three attacks occurred within four days at schools in central Mazovia, leaving one person dead and many others, including children, injured. The young attackers used knives and other sharp objects. Authorities blamed the school attack on online “glorification of violence” and said some of the attackers were active in a far-right environment.
Kakper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Counter-Terrorism Center in The Hague, said the Krakow gunman’s military equipment, guns and general appearance were similar to those of other “far-right lone actors” who have carried out attacks across Europe.
“There have been attempts before, but this time we can say that this type of attack was successful in Poland,” he said.
