It was just before three in the afternoon when the car entered the Main Market Square — the beating heart of Krakow, a place of tourists, pigeons, tram bells and centuries-old stone.
Within three minutes, six people would be dead.
What unfolded on Thursday in Poland’s second-largest city has been called the country’s first case of its kind: an attack that Prime Minister Donald Tusk did not hesitate to label terrorism.
The Attack
Police say a man drove into the square and began firing “at random people from his car.”
Footage from the scene captured the panic — people running, screaming, ducking for cover as gunshots cracked across one of Europe’s largest medieval squares.
A passing tram was struck, its windows shattering. No passengers were hurt.
Armed officers reached the scene and exchanged fire with the suspect, who was shot within three minutes of the attack beginning. Officials credit that speed with preventing a far greater massacre.
Distressing footage authenticated by BBC Verify shows the moment an officer confronts the gunman on the ground before firing several times. The officer then collapses, apparently wounded himself.
The suspect’s car, found at the intersection of Dietla and Stradomska streets, was checked for explosives. None were found, but nearby buildings were evacuated while the operation continued.
The Dead
Six people are confirmed dead: four women and two men. One is a British national. Three victims are Polish; two have not been identified.
Sixteen people were taken to hospital, including five foreigners, two police officers and the attacker. The injured foreigners are from Austria, Britain, Germany, Portugal and Russia.
Tusk named the wounded officers as Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Morański. One was described by a government minister as being in a “very critical condition” after being shot three times while arresting the attacker.
Police also found three bodies — two women and one man — at the gunman’s home when they searched it.
The Suspect
The attacker is a 25-year-old Polish man. Police have not named him.
He wore “military-style attire” and carried a military-grade weapon, according to a police spokesperson, though authorities say he was not a soldier. “Many pieces of weapons and ammunition were found in his vehicle,” the spokesperson added.
Polish media reports that the suspect held a firearms permit and may have obtained the weapons from his family home.
A minister said early investigations indicate he was inspired by “far-right ideologies” and described him as an “ultra-nationalist,” without elaborating.
His home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, roughly 200km from Krakow, has been searched with support from counter-terrorism police.
The Witnesses
Jonathan Balshaw from Ipswich was outside St Mary’s Basilica with his Polish girlfriend Dominika when the shooting began.
“We ran down the side of the church and through the side door and hid with several other people until the gunfire died down,” he said. “A lot of shots were fired, more than 20, with it sounding like multiple different firearms — there were two distinctly different noises.”
Caitlin Shasby from Newcastle had arrived in Krakow the day before with her friend Jon for a long weekend. They heard the shots from their hotel room but did not understand what was happening until the hotel called and told them to stay in their rooms until further notice.
A City in Mourning
Krakow Mayor Łukasz Gibała has declared a period of mourning lasting until Wednesday, 11 November.
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Tusk, who travelled to the city, was blunt about what had happened: until now, Poland had not seen such drastic cases of terrorism — and that, he said, is what this cruel attack on human life must be called.
Condemnation came from across Europe and beyond. UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was shocked and saddened, and that the United Kingdom stands in solidarity with the people of Poland. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the government deeply mourns those who died. US Ambassador Tom Rose called it a savage and murderous attack. The EU’s Kaja Kallas said the tragedy would be felt far beyond Poland. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky offered condolences on behalf of his people.
What Comes Next
Investigators now face the questions that always follow an attack like this: how a 25-year-old with a firearms permit came to be armed with military-grade weapons, what ideology drove him, and whether anything could have been done to stop him.
For Krakow, the answers will come slowly. For the families of the dead, they cannot come soon enough.