Web Desk(National Times)- Poland\u2019s police said on Saturday that five people were killed and around a dozen wounded after a gunman opened fire in the historic centre of its second city, Krakow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A man drove a car onto Krakow\u2019s Main Square and began shooting at random people, said police. Officers shot a suspect who is now in custody, they added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAs a result of the incident, five people were killed and around a dozen others were wounded,\u201d a Krakow police spokesman told AFP by phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe perpetrator was shot by police\u201d and was transported to a hospital, regional police said on X.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The gunman acted alone and is Polish, a police spokeswoman told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere is one perpetrator; it is a Polish man,\u201d she said by phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An AFP reporter on site noted ambulances and multiple police cars at the scene as police cordoned off the area \u2014 one of Poland\u2019s landmark tourist hotspots popular with locals and foreign visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe police are investigating the background and all the circumstances of the attack,\u201d said Poland\u2019s Prime Minister Donald Tusk, calling it \u201ca tragic shooting\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI saw a man shooting at people and walking around the square,\u201d Annette, a woman in her sixties, told AFP. \u201cIt\u2019s a tragedy for Krakow, we\u2019ve never seen anything like this before,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Dramatic events\u2019
Deadly shootings are rare in Poland, a European Union and Nato member with 38 million people. But the country was on high alert following a series of stabbings in October, which Tusk denounced as a \u201ccult of violence\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Warsaw, a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia\u2019s full-scale invasion in 2022, has repeatedly warned of Russian sabotage and hybrid warfare on Polish soil, accusations rejected by Moscow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The historic city of Krakow, in southern Poland, which was once Poland\u2019s capital, attracts millions of tourists annually. In 2025, it was visited by 16.2 million people, the city said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Poland\u2019s conservative-nationalist president Karol Nawrocki said on X he was \u201cin contact with the relevant authorities\u201d and awaiting \u201ca full explanation of the circumstances surrounding these dramatic events\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe safety of Poles is an absolute priority,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Web Desk(National Times)- Poland\u2019s police said on Saturday that five people were killed and around a dozen wounded after a gunman opened fire in the historic centre of its second city, Krakow. A man drove a car onto Krakow\u2019s Main Square and began shooting at random people, said police. Officers shot a suspect who is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n