Shooting on Krakow Main Square leaves five dead; suspect arrested

Shots were fired from a car on the Main Square in Poland's second-largest city. Police report five dead. The perpetrator's motive remains unclear.

Shots were fired in central Kraków on Saturday afternoon. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/PAP

dpa | Shots were fired from a car in the centre of the Polish city of Kraków. Five people were killed, the police of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship announced on X. There were at least ten injured, a fire service spokesperson told the PAP news agency. Two police officers were among the injured. The suspected perpetrator has been arrested.

The shots on the Main Square (Rynek Główny), the central square of the Lesser Poland Voivodeship's capital, were fired from a moving vehicle, broadcaster Polsat News reported, citing emergency services. The authorities initially appealed to people in the immediate vicinity to move to a safe location.

Perpetrator reportedly fired indiscriminately at passers-by

Nothing was initially known about the background to the incident. Videos on social media showed a rescue helicopter landing on the square. "At around 3 p.m., a man who had driven a car onto the market square began shooting at random people from the vehicle," police stated on the platform X. They confirmed that the suspected perpetrator had been arrested.

Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he was being kept continuously informed about the situation in Kraków following the "tragic shooting." "The police are investigating the background and all circumstances of the incident," the liberal-conservative politician wrote on X.

With more than 800,000 inhabitants, Kraków is Poland's second-largest city. It is considered a popular destination for tourists from around the world. Key landmarks, alongside the Main Square, include the castle on Wawel Hill and the cathedral. The university city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.