Young Pole with far-right views shoots six people dead in Krakow's market square, Tusk calls it terrorism
The gunman fired from his car at passers-by in the tourist centre; police later found three more bodies at his home.
On the historic market square in Krakow, a magnet for tourists, a man opened fire at random on passers-by from a moving car shortly after 3 pm on Saturday. Polish authorities say six people were killed, four women and two men, and sixteen were injured, including two police officers. One of them is in a serious condition. Police shot the attacker, who is in hospital with his injuries. More weapons and ammunition were found in the car, VRT NWS reported. TRT World quotes a police spokesman as saying a semi-automatic rifle was used.
Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the suspect, a Pole from Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski who according to TRT World was born in 2002, was strongly drawn to far-right and ultra-nationalist ideas. Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the attack as terrorism, in a form he said Poland had never experienced so radically before. At the gunman's home police found the bodies of two women and a man, who Tusk said were probably close relatives.
A British national is among the dead, police chief Marek Boroń confirmed. According to VRT NWS, the injured include people from Austria, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom, among others. Belgium's foreign ministry had no information on Saturday evening about any Belgian victims. Tusk declared two days of national mourning, on Sunday and Monday. Euronews reported that the head of Poland's National Security Bureau also travelled to Krakow, while TRT World notes that deadly shootings are rare in Poland.