A man steered his car into an open market in the Polish city of Krakow and began shooting from the vehicle on Saturday, killing at least five people and leaving about a dozen others injured, according to police. The suspected gunman was shot by officers and taken into custody, authorities said.
The attack unfolded around 3 p.m. local time in the Main Market Square, one of the best-known public spaces in the country. Krakow police said the alleged shooter fired at random people from his car. Police officers were among those wounded. The suspect was himself shot and injured during a confrontation with officers a short distance from where the violence began, and he was transported to a hospital for treatment.
In a statement posted to social media, Krakow police identified the gunman as a Polish citizen and said he acted alone. "The perpetrator of the incident in Kraków's Main Market Square is a citizen of the Republic of Poland. We deny reports that a police officer has died and that another perpetrator is being sought. The only known perpetrator of the incident is in police custody," the department wrote.
Katarzyna Cisło, a spokesperson for the Krakow police, told broadcaster TVN24 that the suspected gunman had been wearing military-style fatigues and carried a military-type long gun during the attack. She said officers searching his car discovered many pieces of other weapons along with ammunition.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was monitoring the situation closely. "I am being kept informed by the Minister of the Interior about the situation in Krakow following the tragic shooting," Tusk wrote on social media, adding that "the police are investigating the background and all the circumstances of the attack." Officials said further details were not immediately available.
The United States ambassador to Poland, Tom Rose, also reacted publicly. "We are just learning details of the horrific mass shooting in Krakow, a savage and murderous attack that's shattered the peace of Poland," Rose wrote on X. "America stands with Poland at this dark hour as Poland stands with her beloved citizens of Krakow."
Witnesses described scenes of terror in the crowded square. "I saw a man shooting at people and walking around the square," Annette, a woman in her sixties, told the news wire Agence France-Presse. "It's a tragedy for Krakow; we've never seen anything like this before."
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland, a European Union and NATO member nation of 38 million people. Krakow, in the country's south, is Poland's second-largest city and sits roughly 155 miles from the capital, Warsaw.
