KRAKÓW, Poland, 8, (Net) : Poland on Sunday 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 Saturday 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 15 wounded 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 150 kilometres (95 miles) 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.
“I’m absolutely devastated,” Weronika Filar, 27, a Krakow resident, told AFP on Sunday.
“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.
Two police officers were wounded as they desperately chased the suspect, who was masked and dressed in military garb, including a bullet-proof vest.
The man left his car at an intersection and started shooting at the officers with a semi-automatic rifle, according to police.
– Police hero –
Social media images showed the two police firing at the gunman, with one managing to wound him despite his own injuries.
One police officer was in serious but stable condition, the interior ministry said, as quoted by PAP.
Police named him as “Jakub Kulik, who without hesitation confronted an armed attacker”.
On Sunday morning, the usually busy site of the attack was sealed off with red-and-white tape.
People laid candles and police checked the bags of workers at the cafes and restaurants on the square.
Most of the souvenir shops remained closed.
Black flags and Poland’s flags with black ribbons were seen in the city as Warsaw announced two days of national mourning for the victims from Sunday.
– 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.
Britain’s Prime Minister Andy Burnham said he was “shocked and saddened by the appalling shooting”.
