Witnesses of the gun attack in Krakow's Main Market Square have described scenes of panic, confusion and lasting trauma, with at least six people killed and around 15 injured in the rare shooting.
Restaurant lockdown during the attack
Lars Thomas, a 36-year-old Welshman, was sitting in a restaurant in the square when he heard loud shots. At first, he thought the sounds were linked to the city's football derby, the 'Holy War', known as one of the fiercest in Europe. He soon realised he was witnessing a rare gun attack in the Polish city.
Thomas and his family, including his three children under the age of five, were trapped inside the restaurant. "We saw loads of people running from the window," Thomas told the Express, adding that at the time he still did not know what was going on. He Googled 'gunshots Krakow', only to be told by an AI overview that he was probably hearing firecrackers.
"There was no news, obviously, because it was literally happening as we were there," Thomas continued. They were instructed to stay away from the windows and hide under the tables, while people inside began to panic. "I remember people crying on the phone. People were saying there are two bodies outside," he recalled.
Escalation and escape
Thomas wondered: "My God, what do we do? Do we leave with the people that are running outside the restaurant? Do we just stay here?"
Over the next hour, the situation escalated. "More and more police came in. Black vans came in with people with loads of guns coming out. Then more ambulances. They were setting up loads of different sorts of inflatable buildings. A helicopter landed in the square."
The family managed to leave the restaurant after about an hour and a half. "We ran across the square. There were lots of sirens everywhere, and police cars driving all over the road, and ambulances, fire engines; it was just quite mental."
Calm amid the chaos
Lesia Dubenko, 32, was going for a walk with her dogs when she saw people running. She initially thought it was "some kind of group thing because there are so many people around here. You know, they get drunk, they do stuff." When she took her headphones off, she heard loud shots, which she also initially thought were fireworks following the previous day's football derby.
Learning that it was a gun attack, the Ukrainian, who has been living in Krakow for the past four years, said she was "very surprised." She told the Express: "I've been in Krakow for a while. That's kind of the safest place in Europe when it comes to this stuff. So, I was very surprised."
She said she didn't panic because the police handled the matter very quickly. "I saw that people were still calm, despite the whole event. Then I saw the police and how they handled it, and I thought to myself, well, probably this is why you're safe. It's probably not very comfortable for people to go out right now, and the taxi prices went up. But otherwise, I would say it's pretty calm, and now everybody is probably just following what's going to happen next."
Trauma for a student
Emilia Tollefson, 18, an international student from the US, was still hearing sirens across Krakow more than four hours after the shooting, living a 20-minute walk from the square. She was walking through the square with a friend on her way to a bookstore when "everyone started screaming and running." They rushed into a nearby cafe, where they hid for around 10 minutes. Inside, people were confused and frightened. "Everyone was like, 'What happened? What's going on?' Everyone was just very confused," she recalled.
Tollefson's friend later told her there was "blood all over the cobblestone." She eventually took a tram home, despite feeling anxious after hearing reports that trams were also targeted. She said the experience had left her deeply shaken. "With this new incident, every noise I hear now, I'm very startled, and so in shock. I'm very honestly very traumatised and right now can't even imagine like walking back into the square," she said.
With years of university still ahead of her in Krakow, she hopes that security will improve across the city.
