That rarity is precisely why the coming official account of what happened in Main Square will carry weight well beyond Kraków.
A gunman opened fire from a moving vehicle in Kraków's Main Square on Saturday, killing six people and wounding at least eleven more, according to Małopolska Police. Four of the dead were women and two were men, the force said. The suspect, described only as a citizen of the Republic of Poland, was shot and wounded by police during a gunfight and is in custody. Authorities said the area is now secured.
Katarzyna Cisło, a spokesperson for the Kraków police, told the Polish network TVN24 that the suspect wore military-style fatigues and used a military-style rifle, and that officers found numerous other weapons and ammunition in his car. According to the account, the gunman targeted people at random, injuring civilians and police officers alike. A train driver had reported around 3 p.m. local time that his vehicle had been shot at by a man in a moving car, shattering his window. Video posted on social media showed people running as shots rang out.
Małopolska Police issued a statement on Saturday afternoon denying reports that a police officer had died and that a second perpetrator was being sought. "The only known perpetrator of the incident is in police custody," officials said. National Police Commander Inspector General Marek Boroń was travelling to the scene, Polish Police said on X.
The political reaction was swift and pointed. Prime Minister Donald Tusk offered condolences to the victims' families and praised the police officers who risked their lives, then appealed to politicians of all stripes not to exploit the tragedy. President Karol Nawrocki said he was deeply concerned and expected a full explanation, and the head of the National Security Bureau was dispatched to the city. The US ambassador to Poland, Tom Rose, called it a savage and murderous attack, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said there could be no justification for it.
The timing gives the episode a charged political context. Poland is in the midst of a constitutional crisis, with Tusk's pro-European Union government deadlocked against the national conservative opposition, and Nawrocki's election to the presidency has left the Constitutional Tribunal paralysed. Tusk's warning against exploitation suggests he is alive to the risk that a mass-casualty attack becomes another front in that struggle.
What is not yet known is substantial. Police have given no motive, no name and no indication of how the suspect obtained his weapons, and they have not confirmed whether anyone else was involved beyond denying a second perpetrator. The investigation into the background of the attack is ongoing, and this is a developing story. Shootings are exceedingly rare in Poland, which ranks among the world's lowest in gun-related deaths at 0.2 to 0.4 per 100,000 residents, according to a study by Medical University of Gdansk researchers. That rarity is precisely why the coming official account of what happened in Main Square will carry weight well beyond Kraków.
