Poland has begun two days of national mourning after a 24-year-old man with far-right views drove into a busy central square in Krakow and opened fire, killing six people and wounding 15 others before police shot and wounded him.
The attack, which Poland’s defence minister described as an “act of terror”, happened on Saturday in Main Square, which is in the heart of Krakow’s Old Town and is a major tourist hub in the country’s second-largest city.
By evening, mourners had left candles in memory of the victims. The square remained partially closed on Sunday morning as authorities continued their investigation.
St Mary’s Trumpet Call, a traditional five-note melody played every hour from the highest tower of St Mary’s Basilica on the Main Square, was paused overnight in tribute to the victims. It was the first time the call had been missed since the Second World War.
On Sunday afternoon, St Anne’s Church in Krakow filled with mourners attending a memorial service for the victims of the tragedy.
Authorities also found the bodies of the assailant’s sister, mother and father at the man’s family home in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski, a city about 93 miles (150km) north-east of Krakow. It is likely they died from gunshot wounds.
UK resident Neil Thaxton and his wife lived through the attack.
“We had just walked through the Main Square and heard the gunshots,” Mr Thaxton wrote on Facebook.
“We thought it was fireworks then people started running, we went into a gift shop and the staff took us in the back of the shop and locked the doors and turned the lights off.”
Witness Andy Hill told the BBC that he had felt like he was in a movie scene.
“It doesn’t feel real,” the British tourist said.
“And the trouble is, you have such an instantaneous moment to make a decision: Run. Stand still. There’s an element of shock. But I just thought the easiest thing to do is dive through a doorway and just take refuge behind the windows.”
Marie-Ange Collaer wrote on Facebook that she and her family survived the shooting during a trip to Krakow from Brussels.
“We literally ran for our lives and managed to hide from the bullets flying around,” she wrote.
“Lying on the floor in a shop like in a bad police movie whilst you hear bullets everywhere.”
Prosecutors said on Sunday they had opened an investigation into the murder and attempted murder of numerous people, including police officers, with the act “constituting a terrorist offence”.
Four women and two men were killed in the Main Square shooting.
Three of the women and one of the men were Polish, Krzysztof Jan Kleczar, the Malopolska regional governor, said on Sunday.
A man from the UK and a woman from Austria were also among the dead.
A video posted on social media showed a police officer repeatedly shooting the attacker, who was lying on the street.
The officer later slowly collapsed to the ground.
The two police officers who stopped the gunman, in actions authorities hailed as heroic, remain in hospital.
They were both conscious by Sunday afternoon.
“If it weren’t for the efficient and selfless intervention of these two young men, the number of victims could have been significantly higher,” Mr Kleczar said.
Michal Pedziwiatr and Mateusz Wierdak, two local surgeons who were eating nearby, also stepped in.
Mr Wierdak “took care of the officer who subdued the attacker because he truly needed urgent help”, Mr Pedziwiatr told Polish news website onet.
“Without protection, without gloves, he simply focused on the officer, stopping the bleeding in his chest. This probably saved his life.”
Five foreigners are among the wounded. They come from the UK, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria.
The suspect is also in a critical condition after undergoing multiple surgeries.
There was confusion on Saturday about his age, with authorities first saying 24 and later 25. On Sunday they confirmed that he is 24.
Interior minister Marcin Kierwinski said the suspect holds “very radical” and “ultranationalistic” views.
“Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” Mr Kierwinski said at a news conference.
Local officials in Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski said they seized seven weapons from the family home, bringing the total number recovered to 11, including four found on the suspect or in his car in Krakow. Both father and son had gun permits, they said.
Around 411,000 people hold gun permits in Poland, which has a population of 37 million, and interest in gun ownership has been rising.
The Swit shooting club in Starachowice, where the suspect is believed to have trained, issued a statement on Sunday saying it offered only “static shooting”, which involves firing from a fixed position at a stationary target.
The club added that the suspect “was never trained in our club in the areas of dynamic, tactical or combat shooting”.
Mass shootings are uncommon in Poland. But in mid-October, three attacks at schools in the central province of Mazovia took place within four days, leaving one person dead and many wounded, including children.
The young attackers used knives or other sharp objects.
Officials blamed the school attacks on online “glorification of violence”, and said that some of the attackers were active in the far-right environment.
