The 24-year-old who opened fire in a busy Polish city square, killing six people and wounding 15 on Saturday, died in a hospital on Monday morning, police said. The man was in critical condition after police shot him to end the attack, and had undergone several operations. Poland is in the second of two days of national mourning. The shooter, a Polish man, held far-right views, authorities said. The attack, which Poland’s Defense Minister described as an “act of terror”, occurred in the Main Square, a major tourist center in the heart of Krakow’s old town. Prosecutors said Sunday they had launched an investigation into the murder and attempted murder of numerous people, including police officers, with the act “constituting a terrorist crime.” Police officers work next to Krakow’s main market a day after a gunman opened fire, killing six people and wounding a dozen more in the historic center of the Polish city of Krakow on November 8, 2026. Wojtek RADWANSKI /AFP via Getty Images Four women and two men were killed in the shooting. Three of the women and one of the men were Polish, authorities said. Also among the dead were a man from the United Kingdom and a woman from Austria. Among the injured there are five foreigners. They come from the United Kingdom, Portugal, Russia, Germany and Austria. The two police officers who detained the gunman, in actions that authorities described as heroic, remain in the hospital. Both were conscious Sunday afternoon after being in a coma. “If it were not for the effective and selfless intervention of these two young people, the number of victims could have been much higher,” Krzysztof Jan Klęczar, regional governor of Malopolska, said on Sunday. Officials launched an appeal for blood donations to benefit the most seriously injured officer. The bodies of three people (the attacker’s sister, mother and father) were found in the man’s home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a town about 150 kilometers northeast of Krakow. They likely died from gunshot wounds, authorities said. Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said the gunman held “very radical” and “ultranationalist” views. “Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” Kierwiński said at a news conference. He said the gunman’s father legally owned more than 10 guns and that the gunman also owned guns. Local officials in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski said they confiscated seven guns from the family home, bringing the total number recovered to 11, including four found in the man’s possession in Krakow or in his car. Poland mourns victims On Sunday night, mourners placed candles and flowers next to bullet holes in Krakow, Poland, after the city’s central square became a site of bloodshed and pain. “I come here so as not to get caught in a spiral of fear and anxiety,” Krakow local Maciej Sikorski told The Associated Press from the square. “In a situation like this, it’s very easy to stop living, start being afraid and just vegetate. That’s something I really want to avoid.” The Mary’s Trumpet Call, a traditional five-note melody played hourly from the highest tower of St. Mary’s Basilica in the main square, was stopped overnight from Saturday to Sunday in tribute to the victims. It is the first time the call has been missed since World War II. “I am absolutely devastated,” Weronika Filar, 27, of Krakow, told Agence France-Presse on Sunday. “It’s really one of the safest places on Earth… I didn’t expect something like this to happen to us,” he said. “Our city will never be the same.” People place candles in the Main Market Square on November 8, 2026, after yesterday’s deadly shooting in the Main Market Square in Krakow, Poland. Omar Marques / Getty Images “We have heard of several such incidents occurring in other parts of Europe,” Krzysztof Stepien, a 28-year-old part-time city guide, told AFP. “Nothing like this has ever happened here and I hope it doesn’t happen again,” Stepien said. American tourist Marylin Green lamented the losses in the “beautiful city” during her first trip to Poland that also included the capital. “I’m Polish, my parents were from here,” she said. “I loved Warsaw. So I really wanted to come here too.” European flags flew at half-mast on Sunday outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels. Mass shootings are rare in Poland. However, in mid-October there were three attacks on schools in the central province of Mazovia in four days, leaving one dead and many injured, including children. The young attackers used knives or other sharp objects. People place candles in the Main Market Square on November 8, 2026, after the deadly shooting in the Main Market Square in Krakow, Poland. Omar Marques / Getty Images The military equipment, weapons and general appearance of the Krakow shooter were similar to other “far-right lone actors” carrying out attacks across Europe, said Kacper Rekawek, a senior researcher at the International Counterterrorism Center in The Hague. “We have had attempts before, but now we can say that these types of attacks have been successful in Poland,” Rekawek said. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press in:
