Emergency services including an air ambulance attended the scene near St Mary’s Church, and two police officers are among the injured
Two people were killed and ten injured in a shooting in the main market square in Krakow, southern Poland, on Saturday, the city’s fire service said. Captain Hubert Ciepły, a spokesman for the Krakow State Fire Service, told local media that the injured included two police officers and that police had arrested the person responsible. Prime minister Donald Tusk said police were examining the background and circumstances of the attack. Officers and emergency crews were at the scene near St Mary’s Church.
What officials have said
“Two fatalities in a shooting on the Main Market Square, 10 people injured, including two police officers,” Captain Ciepły said. “According to the police, the perpetrator has been arrested.”
In a statement shortly before 3pm GMT, Mr Tusk said he was being kept informed by the interior minister. “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.”
Earlier, the city hall had reported that shots were fired in the main market square and that police were still carrying out an operation on nearby Dietla Street. Authorities have not said whether the two are connected.
Witness accounts
Witnesses told the broadcaster RMF FM that attackers fired from a black car travelling through the square (Rynek Główny), with shots aimed at people there. Police have not confirmed the car, how many people were involved or whether anyone was 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 that, citing Radio Kraków. RMF FM reported that a shop and a tram were damaged, but it is not known whether bullets or another cause were responsible.
Early confusion over the toll
Early reports gave conflicting figures. A local site, Wrzuc.info, reported unconfirmed claims of five deaths and three injuries at 3.36pm Polish time, and cautioned that police had not verified them. The fire service’s later figures, two dead and ten injured, are the latest. The same site said it had not independently dated a photograph of an air ambulance in the square that was circulating online, so not every image in circulation should be assumed to show Saturday’s incident.
