Heart-stopping footage shows the moment a heroic Polish police officer confronted and shot a mass shooter accused of killing six people in Krakow’s historic Main Square Saturday, in an attack officials have classified as terrorism.
The officer is now fighting for his life, prompting Poland’s leaders to urge the public to donate blood on his behalf.
Harrowing video shows two officers facing the 24-year-old gunman, who is also accused of killing his parents and sister at their home. The officers exchange gunfire with him at close range in the street.
One officer, Jakub Kulik, stands over the masked suspect in full tactical gear and fires several shots as the gunman lies on the ground, according to the footage.
Kulik keeps his weapon drawn before collapsing from his own injuries and rolling onto his back.
Kulik is a veteran of Poland’s elite 6th Airborne Brigade, according to Polish media reports.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek issued an urgent appeal on social media for blood donations for the injured officer.
“Senior Constable Jakub Kulik, who today confronted an armed attacker without hesitation, is now fighting for his life in hospital,” Żurek wrote.
“One of his lungs is not functioning, and he needs every drop of blood he can get.”
Authorities said the two officers reached the scene and engaged the gunman within three minutes of the first shots being fired.
Kulik and fellow officer Senior Constable Artur Moranski remained in serious condition Sunday. One of the officers was still in a coma, officials said.
The suspect was eventually taken into custody and hospitalized in critical condition.
The attack unfolded near the intersection of Dietla and Stradomska streets, where police stopped the gunman after he allegedly killed four men and two women, including one British citizen. At least 15 other people were injured, although officials did not say how many suffered gunshot wounds.
Żurek said on X Sunday that the unidentified shooter “acted with the aim of seriously intimidating a large number of people,” making the incident “a terrorist offence.”
“Senior Constable Jakub Kulik and Senior Constable Artur Moranski are true heroes,” Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, apparently referring to the two officers seen in the footage.
Regional Governor Krzysztof Kłęczar told reporters Sunday that without the officers’ “efficient and selfless intervention,” the number of victims “could have been significantly higher.”
“The condition of the two police officers remains serious,” he said, adding that “one of them has already been brought out of a coma while the other remains in a coma and is under medical care.”
The gunman held “very radical” and “ultra-nationalistic” views, Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński told reporters.
“Everything indicates that he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” Kierwiński said at a news conference.
Hours after the attack, Tusk said authorities had discovered the bodies of the suspect’s parents and sister inside his home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a city about 93 miles northeast of Krakow, Poland’s second-largest city.
Gunfire erupted in Main Square, at the heart of Krakow’s Old Town and a major tourist destination, at around 3 p.m., sending people fleeing for safety.
The suspect went on a “wild ride,” driving to multiple locations around the square and opening fire at each stop with an automatic weapon, Krakow police spokesperson Katarzyna Cisło said.
The attacker was wearing military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest and used a military-type long gun, according to Cisło. Police also found additional weapons and ammunition in his car.
He continued firing at police even after being wounded, she said.
Poland began two days of national mourning Sunday.
With Post Wires
