Poland launches terrorism probe into Krakow mass shooting

Poland launched a terrorism probe as mourners brought candles and flowers to Krakow's Main Market Square in tribute to six people killed by a gunman who authorities said was "fascinated by far-right ideologies".

The 24-year-old Polish man opened fire at random yesterday in the historic centre of the country's second city, in what Prime Minister Donald Tusk called an act of "terrorism".

A British national was among the dead, according to police. Among the 17 injured were nationals from Austria, Britain, Germany, Portugal and Russia, an interior ministry spokeswoman said.

Three more bodies were found at the suspect's home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, around 150km northeast of Krakow. Police said they were his parents and a sister.

The gunman was wounded in a shootout with police and is in critical condition in hospital.

The National Prosecutor's Office said it had launched a terrorism investigation.

In Krakow, the old town's main market square and the surrounding streets remained closed, with police allowing only essential workers to pass.

Many nearby cafes were closed and flags at the city hall were at half-mast. Mourners placed candles in several locations in the area.

The traditional trumpet call from St Mary's church on the square was suspended for 12 hours to commemorate the dead, the first time this has happened since 1939, state news agency PAP reported.

In the capital, Warsaw, police said yesterday they were strengthening security measures in busy areas popular with tourists. Barriers were installed on streets leading onto the Krakowskie Przedmiescie street in the historic heart of the capital.

Relatives' bodies found

The suspect was named in the media as Michal O.

The three bodies found at the gunman's home were his parents and a sister, regional police said on social media.

The victims were a 53-year-old man and two women aged 52 and 21.

"Injuries were found on the bodies, which were preliminarily assessed as gunshot wounds... Seven firearms were seized from the flat," police added.

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwinski said police had also found weapons in the suspect's car.

According to investigators quoted in the Polish media, Michal O. had no previous criminal record.

He was a member of a shooting club, along with his father.

Attacks shatter sense of security

"I'm absolutely devastated," Weronika Filar, 27, a Krakow resident, told AFP.

"It's one of the safest places on Earth genuinely...I did not expect anything like this to happen to us," she said. "Our city will never be the same."

"We've heard of various incidents of this sort happening elsewhere in Europe," Krzysztof Stepien, a 28-year-old part-time city guide told AFP.

"Nothing like this has ever happened here, and I hope it never will again," Stepien said.

Maria, a 20-year-old Warsaw cafe employee, said she "almost burst into tears" when she heard about the attack in Krakow.

"Recent events - not just this one, but things happening lately - are really affecting our sense of security," she said.

Leading daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita said in an editorial that the mass shooting brought a "brutal end to an era in which Poland was considered an island of safety".

Besides expressing shock at the killings, officials and members of the public praised the actions of police officers who apprehended the gunman after a close-range shootout.

Police issued an urgent appeal for blood for one of two injured officers who was "fighting for his life in hospital".

"Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Moranski are true heroes," Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday in a post on X. "They likely saved many human lives, disregarding the risk to their own."

McEntee pays tribute to Irish Civil Defence members

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee has offered her condolences to families of those killed in Poland and paid tribute to the work of Irish Civil Defence members who helped out at the scene.

"This was a truly devastating attack on innocent civilians who were going about their their daily lives on a Saturday," she said.

"And while there are obviously speculations around the motives, and otherwise, I have every confidence that the Polish authorities will be investigating, and that there will be justice for those families."

Ms McEntee confirmed she had also asked her department to reach out to the members of the Dublin Civil Defence who were there.

"They obviously were there in a personal capacity, but I think it is extraordinary the way in which I suppose the values and the work that they that they engage in at home, that that went straight into action in Krakow, and that they were there to support very vulnerable people who had been involved in that attack and to assist them," she said.

"I just want to thank them publicly."

Additional reporting Sandra Hurley