The attack on the Main Market Square

On Saturday, 7 November, a 24-year-old man drove a black Subaru into Kraków's Main Market Square, one of Europe's most celebrated squares. Around 15:00 he fired on passers-by, tourists and taxi drivers, according to Adnkronos. Police gave chase, and at an intersection the car collided with a parked vehicle. The man then got out wearing military uniform, a mask, a helmet and a tactical vest, and fired on two officers with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle. Both officers were hit, and one of them neutralised the attacker despite his own wounds. Six people were killed in the square: an Austrian woman aged 51, a British man aged 32, three Polish women aged 47, 53 and 61, and a Polish man of about 50.

Key moments from the attack to the attacker's death
  1. Attacker drives into the Main Market Square and fires on passers-by, tourists and taxi drivers
  2. Police find the bodies of the attacker's parents and sister in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski
  3. Prosecutors open a terrorism investigation
  4. Attacker dies in a Kraków hospital

The family in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski

Police found the bodies of the attacker's parents and sister in a flat in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about two hours from Kraków, hours after the shooting in the square. Police said all three had gunshot wounds. Investigators believe the attacker killed his family before travelling to Kraków, and they are working to establish when the three died. Neighbours struggled to recognise the young man described in the press: one woman called him a normal, cheerful and quiet young man, while another recalled a hood often pulled over his face and a habit of wearing a face mask. Neighbours often saw him and his father leave on Sundays in camouflage clothing for a sports shooting range they both used. The attacker had no criminal record, and weapons registered to him and his father were seized from the flat and at the scene. A former classmate told Radio Eska that he drew hanged people and school attacks, depicting himself with a pistol.

People killed by location (people)
Main Market Square6Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski flat3

The attacker's death and the wounded

Early on Monday, 9 November, the attacker died in a Kraków hospital, where he had been in critical condition after several operations. Krzysztof Klęczar, the regional governor of Lesser Poland, said the death occurred at 4:30 am, and police announced it on X. Klęczar said 15 other people remained in six Kraków hospitals with conditions unchanged. The husband of the Austrian victim was among the wounded, and Austrian foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said Vienna was in close contact with Polish authorities. Polish President Karol Nawrocki declared a national day of mourning, the second of its kind, which Prime Minister Donald Tusk backed.

Motive and investigation

The National Prosecutor's Office is investigating the attack as a possible terrorism offence, considering that it aimed to intimidate many people seriously. Autopsies of the nine victims were due to begin on Monday, 9 November, and investigators have seized digital devices, obtained surveillance footage and questioned the first witnesses. The motive has not been established. On 7 November Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said everything indicated the attacker was fascinated by far-right ideology, and on 8 November he told TVN24 this was one of the first hypotheses police were verifying. Prosecutor General Waldemar Żurek said on 8 November that it was too early to speak about the motive. On 9 November prosecutor Eryk Stasielak of the National Prosecutor's Office told PAP that investigators were still examining it, and government spokesman Adam Szłapka said such assessments should be withheld until the services have full information.