Krakow’s fire service says two people died and 10 were hurt, including two police officers. Prime minister Donald Tusk said police are examining the background and circumstances of the attack.
Two people were killed and 10 injured in a shooting in the main market square in Krakow on Saturday, according to the city’s fire service. Captain Hubert Ciepły, a spokesman for the Krakow State Fire Service, told local media that the injured included two police officers and that, according to police, the perpetrator had been arrested. Police and emergency crews, including an air ambulance, were at the scene near St Mary’s Church. Polish prime minister Donald Tusk said the police were investigating “all the circumstances of the attack”.
Fire service and government statements
Captain Ciepły told local media: “Two fatalities in a shooting on the Main Market Square, 10 people injured, including two police officers. According to the police, the perpetrator has been arrested.”
Mr Tusk said in a statement just before 3pm GMT that he was being kept informed by the Minister of the Interior. “I am being kept informed by the Minister of the Interior about the situation in Kraków following the tragic shooting,” he said. “The police are investigating the background and all the circumstances of the attack.”
The city hall had earlier reported that shots were fired in the main market square and that police were still carrying out an operation on nearby Dietla Street.
Footage and witness accounts
The report describes footage showing a police officer approaching the shooter, who was dressed in military-style green fatigues and lying on the ground, with several shots fired. The source does not make clear who fired them.
Witnesses told the Polish broadcaster RMF FM that attackers fired from a black car travelling through the Main Market Square (Rynek Główny), with shots directed towards people in the square. Police have not confirmed the vehicle, the number of attackers or whether the victims were deliberately targeted.
Radio Kraków placed some of the gunfire near Sławkowska Street, which leads into the northern side of the square, and Radio ESKA repeated the location, citing Radio Kraków. RMF FM reported that a shop and a tram were damaged, but has not established whether bullets, collisions or another cause was responsible.
Early confusion over the toll
Early reports gave conflicting figures. RMF FM reported deaths and several injured people without giving a fully verified total. A local report on Wrzuc.info, published at 3.36pm Polish time, referred to unconfirmed claims of five deaths and three injuries, and cautioned that police had not verified them. The fire service’s later figures are two dead and 10 injured.
The same publication noted that it had not independently dated a photograph circulating online of an air ambulance in the market square, so images in circulation should not all be assumed to show Saturday’s incident.
