Two surgeons rushed to help a critically injured police officer after a gunman opened fire in Krakow's Main Market Square on Saturday, killing six people including a British man and injuring at least 15 others.
The doctors were dining at a restaurant when the shooting began at around 3pm. Professor Michał Pędziwiatr and Dr Mateusz Wierdak were eating nearby with their families as the rampage unfolded.
"Suddenly my son shouted, 'Dad, they're shooting at people over there, and they're falling to the ground'," Prof Pędziwiatr told local media outlet WP.
Surgeons rush to help wounded officers
The two men sprang into action as their families sought shelter inside a nearby pharmacy, while they rushed to help the wounded officers. Dr Wierdak said the two police officers were conscious when he reached them, but had suffered "gunshot wounds to the chest". The suspect was also conscious with multiple gunshot wounds, he added.
The surgeon used his hands to stem the flow of blood from Senior Police Constable Jakub Kulik's injuries, applying pressure to his wounds until emergency crews arrived. Prof Pędziwiatr said: "If not for this, the officer probably wouldn't have survived, as he would have bled to death."
Pędziwiatr said he began monitoring the "seriously wounded" people on the street, and even later operated on other victims of the attack in surgery, Fakt reports. He said: "We don't feel like heroes," adding that the pair simply "did everything a paramedic would do at the scene of such an incident."
Six killed and at least 15 injured in Krakow shooting
The suspect, a 24-year-old Polish national named by local media as Michal Oksinski, was believed to have been inspired by "far-right ideologies" and was shot by police before being admitted to hospital, where he has since died. Kulik was shot three times while attempting to confront the perpetrator and has since undergone surgery, remaining in a "very critical condition".
Police described the suspect as being armed with a military-style rifle and dressed in combat gear during the incident. A search of his vehicle uncovered a number of other weapons.
Krzysztof Jan Klęczar, regional governor of Lesser Poland, said the dead included three Polish women aged 47, 53 and 61, a 32-year-old British man, and a woman of 51 whose nationality has not been confirmed - but who is not a Polish citizen. Another Brit was among 16 people injured, including the perpetrator. Other foreign nationals including people from Portugal, Russia, Germany, and Austria were also among the wounded.
Police response and investigation
Prime Minister Donald Tusk later praised the police officers "who risked their lives" to immediately intervene. "Thanks to their heroic actions, the attacker was quickly apprehended," Tusk said. According to police, the first patrol was at the scene just "23 seconds" after the attack was reported, with the suspect "shot and neutralised" three minutes later.
He had allegedly driven 125 miles from his home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski to the city's market square before opening fire from his car. Authorities said on Sunday that they discovered three dead bodies at property, located about 93 miles north-east of Krakow. The bodies were of the suspect's sister, 21, mum, 52, and dad, 53, who are believed to have been shot.
Polish defence minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz described the incident as a "terror attack" as he denied the suspect was a soldier. "We have never had such drastic cases of terrorism in Poland before, because that is how we should call the attack in Krakow," Tusk said. The National Prosecutors office has launched a probe into the killing of six people and attempted murder of multiple others in Krakow, including the deaths of three people by gunfire in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
