KRAKOW, Poland: Six people were killed and at least 15 wounded on Saturday (Nov 7) when a gunman opened fire in the landmark historic centre of Poland’s second city of Krakow, in the country’s deadliest shooting in decades.
Three bodies – of two women and a man – were later found at the suspect’s home, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, adding there was “much to suggest that they are members of the (suspect’s) immediate family”.
Tusk also announced Poland would hold two days of mourning over the shooting that he called an act of “terrorism”.
Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said the gunman appeared to be “fascinated by far-right ideologies”.
A British national was among the killed, according to Polish police chief, Marek Boron, and five foreigners were among the wounded in hospital, the authorities said.
“Two people who have not yet been identified,” Boron said, referring to the victims killed.
Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was “shocked and saddened by the appalling shooting”.
“My thoughts are with the families of those who have lost their lives, everyone injured and all those affected by this senseless violence,” he wrote on X.
The suspect – a Polish citizen born in 2002 – drove a car onto Krakow’s Main Market Square and began shooting at random people, said police.
Two officers were wounded as they tried to stop the man, the police said, before shooting the suspect who was later detained and taken to a hospital.
An AFP reporter at the scene saw ambulances and multiple police cars as police cordoned off the area – one of Poland’s landmark tourist hotspots popular with locals and foreign visitors.
“Everything suggests that the perpetrator held very, very radical views. A number of weapons were found in the car he was driving,” Kierwinski said.
“Everything suggests that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies” and held “ultra-nationalist views”, he added.
The man was wearing military-style clothing at the time of the attack, said Kierwinski.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
