Kraków Shooting: Six Killed in Main Market Square as Suspect’s Far-Right Views Probed

Update, 9 November 2026: The suspect in the Kraków shooting has died, Polish media reported on Monday. Prosecutor Eryk Stasielak of the National Prosecutor’s Office said his death does not halt the investigation, which was opened on Sunday as a terrorist offence. Prosecutors will no longer bring charges against him, but they will continue to question witnesses and examine his motives and any possible connections, Polsat News reported. Post-mortem examinations of the six victims and of the three family members found dead at his home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski were due to begin on Monday morning and could take two days.

Police confirmed on Sunday that the three people found at the family home were the suspect’s father, 53, mother, 52, and sister, 21, The Guardian reported. Investigators believe the same person carried out both attacks. Officials have said 17 people were injured in the square, including two police officers, and that a 51-year-old Austrian woman and a 32-year-old British man were among the six killed. Poland has begun two days of national mourning.

A gunman opened fire on crowds in Kraków’s Main Market Square on Saturday afternoon, killing six people and wounding at least 15 others (the Guardian puts the number of wounded at 16) in one of the deadliest mass shootings in Poland’s modern history. Polish officials said the suspect, a Polish man in his mid-20s, held “very radical” far-right and ultranationalist views, and the country’s defence minister called the attack “an act of terror” against the people of the city.

Four women and two men were killed, Polish police said, including a British citizen. Two police officers were among the wounded, one of them seriously after being shot three times during an exchange of fire with the attacker. The suspect was detained after being wounded and remained in hospital in a very critical condition on Saturday evening, according to The Independent.

What Happened in Kraków’s Main Market Square?

The shooting began at about 3pm local time (2pm WAT) on Saturday 7 November. According to the Guardian, police said the attacker drove a car onto the square, one of Europe’s largest medieval market squares and the heart of a city that receives around 15 million visitors a year, and fired at people at random with an automatic weapon. A tram driver reported that his cab was shot at from a moving car as it passed near the square, the city’s transport company said.

Kraków police spokesperson Katarzyna Cisło said the attacker wore military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest, and that officers found more weapons and ammunition in his car. He kept firing at police even after he had been hit, she said. Because he drove around the square during what Cisło called a “wild ride”, people were wounded in several different places. Police believe he acted alone.

Witnesses described panic as tourists and residents fled into side streets and churches. Jonathan Balshaw, a visitor from Ipswich in England, told the BBC he and his girlfriend hid inside St Mary’s Basilica until the gunfire stopped. “A lot of shots were fired, more than 20,” he said.

• Killed: six people (four women, two men), including one British citizen
• Wounded: at least 15, including two police officers; foreign nationals from Britain, Austria, Germany, Portugal and Russia were among the injured
• Suspect: a Polish man in his mid-20s, detained after being shot by police
• Also found: three bodies at the suspect’s home, believed to be close family members

Who Is the Suspect and What Was the Motive?

Polish authorities have not named the suspect. The Guardian and The Independent describe him as a 25-year-old Polish citizen, while some Polish outlets give his age as 24. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said that “everything points to the fact that the shooter was influenced by far-right ideology”, and that this would be part of the investigation. He said the man appeared to hold “very radical” views and that his father owned several firearms. A police officer told the broadcaster TVN24 that the attacker used an AR-15-style rifle and held a firearms licence.

Hours after the attack, Prime Minister Donald Tusk said police had found the bodies of two women and a man, believed to be the suspect’s close relatives, at his home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, about 150km north-east of Kraków. Tusk said officers expected to find a large number of weapons there and warned that “possible supporters of the perpetrator” should expect to be detained quickly. Agents from Poland’s Internal Security Agency (ABW) are working at both the square and the family home.

Defence Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz said the man was not a soldier and had no connection with the military. The exact motive has not been established, and officials have cautioned that the investigation is at an early stage.

How Has Poland Responded?

Kraków’s mayor, Łukasz Gibała, declared official mourning in the city until Wednesday and promised that Kraków would stay open to visitors. “The square will belong to us again,” he said in a video on X. The government has declared national mourning for Sunday and Monday. In Warsaw, Mayor Rafał Trzaskowski announced extra security, including road barriers along the main streets of the capital’s Old Town.

UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was “shocked and saddened by the appalling shooting in Kraków”, sending his thoughts to the families of those killed and injured. Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek said the authorities would make sure the attacker was “held fully accountable and severely punished”.

How Common Are Gun Attacks in Poland?

Mass shootings are rare in Poland, which has strict licensing rules, but legal gun ownership has risen fast. Euronews reported earlier this year that the number of legally owned firearms in the country had passed one million for the first time, and police figures showed a record 50,700 gun permits were issued in 2025. The attack is likely to renew debate in Poland about licensing and the storage of weapons at home.

What Should Travellers to Kraków Know?

Kraków remains open, and there is no sign of a wider threat, but visitors should expect a heavy police presence around the Old Town, possible cordons near the market square and memorial gatherings over the coming days. Travellers should follow advice from local authorities and their own government. Anyone flying in Europe this week can also check our report on the wave of hoax bomb threats that disrupted flights across the continent.

Featured image: Kraków’s Main Market Square at dusk, by Jorge Láscar / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. File photo.

Sources

• The Guardian — Briton among six dead after gunman opens fire in Kraków market square (7 November 2026).
• The Independent — Who is the Krakow shooting suspect ‘influenced by far-right ideology’? (7 November 2026).
• AP News — Poles mourn rare mass killing as authorities say attacker had far-right views (8 November 2026).
• Anadolu Agency — Morning Briefing: Nov. 8, 2026 (8 November 2026).
• RMF24 — Identities of all six people killed in Kraków established (in Polish) (8 November 2026).
• The Guardian — Polish prosecutors open terrorism investigation into Kraków shooting (8 November 2026).
• Polsat News (Polish) — Prokuratura reaguje po śmierci sprawcy. “Nie wstrzymuje śledztwa” (9 November 2026).