Six people were killed and at least 15 injured when a gunman opened fire in Krakow's Main Market Square on Saturday 7 November 2026. The attack began shortly before 3pm local time, in the square at the heart of the city, on a Saturday afternoon.

Polish police shot and subdued the attacker, who survived and is now in custody. Hours later, officers searching the suspect's home found three more bodies. Prime Minister Donald Tusk has called the attack terrorism, and the interior minister has said the evidence points to a fascination with far-right ideology. A period of mourning has been declared in Krakow until 11 November.

The Krakow shooting: what happened in the square

According to the BBC's reporting of police accounts, the attacker drove onto Main Market Square and fired randomly at the people there. The rampage began shortly before 15:00 local time, which is 14:00 GMT. Officers at the scene returned fire, shooting the attacker and bringing the attack to an end.

Of the six people killed in the square, three were Polish, one was British, and two had not yet been identified when the latest reports were published. At least 15 people were injured, including two police officers and five foreign nationals. The UK Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for Poland.

One of the wounded officers, Senior Constable Jakub Kulik, was fighting for his life. A second officer, Senior Constable Artur Morański, was expected to survive. Both officers were named in official updates reported by the BBC.

The casualty figures changed during the first hours. Early reports put the number killed in the square at five; the latest reporting from the BBC and Sky News puts it at six, with three more bodies found at the attacker's home. That is why the figures in this article are given as confirmed so far, and why we use "at least" where the count was still moving.

Three more bodies found at the attacker's home

After the shooting, police searched the home of the 25-year-old Polish man they had taken into custody. Inside, officers found the bodies of two women and a man. That brings the number of deaths connected to the attacker to nine: six in the square and three at the home.

Officials have not yet said when or how the three people found at the home died, or how they were connected to the attacker. Until the police confirm those details, any explanation of what happened at the house would be guesswork, and this article will not offer one.

What is confirmed about the attacker is limited. He is a 25-year-old Polish man who was wearing military-style clothing and carrying military-style weapons, according to the reports. He was shot by police at the scene, survived, and is in custody. Police have not said whether he acted alone, how he obtained his weapons, or what his full motive was.

What Polish officials have said

Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said that "everything suggests that he was fascinated by far-right ideology". Prime Minister Donald Tusk called the attack terrorism. Those are the two clearest official statements so far, and they frame the investigation that is now under way.

What officials have not said matters just as much. No full motive has been published. The identities of two of the six people killed in the square have not been confirmed. The condition of most of the injured has not been given in detail. And nothing has been confirmed about the three people found at the attacker's home. A careful reading of the official record means accepting those gaps rather than filling them.

This is the third public shooting our reporting has covered this week. On 4 November, a gunman killed an employee at a Citibank campus in Tampa, Florida, before an armed guard stopped him — the full timeline is in our report on the Tampa Citibank shooting. The next day, a police officer was killed and three were wounded in a shooting on a bus in Lakewood, Colorado, covered in our report on the Lakewood RTD bus shooting. The three cases are different in setting, in who was attacked and in how they ended, and no single lesson covers all three.

What this means for visitors and the city

Krakow has declared a period of mourning until 11 November. The square itself was closed off while police worked at the scene, and visitors should expect a continued police presence in the area and should follow the instructions of officers on the ground.

The UK Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for Poland following the attack. Anyone travelling to Krakow should check that advice before they go, and anyone already in the city should keep their travel documents and their phone charged, and make sure someone at home knows where they are. That is ordinary advice after any attack in a city centre, and it applies here too.

For readers following the wider picture, the Everest helicopter collision shows how the same approach works for a very different kind of incident: confirmed facts first, the unknowns stated plainly, and an update when officials confirm more. Our tornado safety guide sets out the same habit for a different risk — know the plan before you need it.

What our records show, and what they miss

Our tracker carries 49 incident records for Krakow dated 7 November 2026, and you can follow new entries on today's incident list. What those records show is the confirmed toll and the confirmed sequence: a vehicle driven onto the square, gunfire shortly before 3pm local time, six people killed and at least 15 injured, an attacker shot and taken into custody, and three more bodies found at his home. You can read more of our reporting in our articles archive.

What they miss, for now, is almost everything else: the identities of two of the victims, the condition of most of the injured, the motive in full, how the attacker obtained his weapons, whether he acted alone, and what happened at the house where three bodies were found. We will update this article when the police confirm more, and we will correct it if any of the early details turn out to be wrong.

The short version

  • Six people were killed and at least 15 injured in Krakow's Main Market Square on 7 November 2026; the attacker drove onto the square and opened fire shortly before 3pm local time.
  • Three more bodies — two women and a man — were later found at the suspect's home, bringing the deaths connected to the attacker to nine.
  • The attacker, a 25-year-old Polish man, was shot and subdued by police, survived and is in custody; the prime minister has called the attack terrorism.
  • Two police officers were among the injured; one was fighting for his life and the other was expected to survive.
  • Krakow is in mourning until 11 November, and the UK Foreign Office has updated its travel advice for Poland.