A 21-year-old Santa Cruz man studying abroad in Italy found himself running for his life Saturday when a gunman opened fire in a crowded public square in Krakow, Poland, killing six people and injuring at least 15 others.
Taylor Dorfmeister was visiting Poland with his roommate when the shooting erupted in the city’s historic Main Market Square, a popular tourist destination.
Dorfmeister told NBC News that there was a brief delay before the crowd reacted to the gunfire, after which people began fleeing in all directions.
He and his roommate ran into a nearby building and hurried upstairs, only to find themselves trapped at a dead end.
“We ran up the stairs in the building to hide and it was a dead end,” Dorfmeister told NBC News, describing the gunfire as loud and close.
Dorfmeister said the shots sounded as though they were coming from the first floor of the building where he was hiding.
He told NBC News that he was “fully prepared for the worst” as he listened to the gunfire.
“This is it,” he recalled thinking. “Like, there’s nowhere to go, nowhere to hide.”
According to NBC News, the gunman drove through the square firing an automatic rifle at pedestrians in what Polish Defense Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz described as a terrorist attack.
Four women and two men were killed in the midday shooting, police said. At least 15 others were injured, including two police officers who were seriously wounded.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk praised the officers for their actions during the attack, saying they likely prevented additional deaths.
One officer was shot three times and underwent surgery, according to Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński.
Police exchanged gunfire with the attacker as he drove through the square. The suspect continued firing after being wounded but was eventually subdued, authorities said.
He was taken to a hospital around 3pm local time.
Kierwiński identified the suspect as a Polish man in his mid-20s from the nearby Świętokrzyskie region who appeared to hold extremist political beliefs.
“Everything indicates he was fascinated by far-right ideologies,” Kierwiński said, according to NBC News.
The investigation took another turn when authorities discovered three bodies at the suspect’s residence in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski.
The victims are believed to be his parents and sister, according to Andrzej Fijołek, deputy inspector of Police National Headquarters.
Authorities suspect the gunman killed the three relatives before carrying out the attack in Krakow.
Police said the suspect was wearing military-style clothing and used a military-type long gun. Investigators also recovered additional weapons and ammunition from his vehicle.
Four of the six people killed in the square had been identified as of Saturday, although their names had not been released. Three were Polish nationals and one was from the United Kingdom.
Foreign nationals from Austria, Germany, Portugal, Russia and Britain were among the injured, officials said.
The U.S. State Department said it was not aware of any Americans injured in the attack.
Videos circulating on social media showed a black vehicle racing through the square as pedestrians scattered at the sound of gunfire.
Other footage showed emergency responders attempting to save victims as bodies lay in the streets.
The shooting occurred in the heart of Krakow’s medieval Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that draws tourists from around the world.
The Main Market Square dates to 1257 and is home to historic landmarks including the Cloth Hall and St. Mary’s Basilica.
Krakow officials declared a period of mourning through Nov. 11.
U.S. Ambassador to Poland Tom Rose condemned the violence in a statement posted on X.
“We are just learning details of the horrific mass shooting in Krakow,” Rose wrote, calling it an attack that had shattered the country’s peace.
The shooting comes as a shock in Poland, where mass shootings are relatively rare.
Authorities continued investigating the suspect’s motives and the circumstances surrounding the deaths of his relatives.
Source: NBC News, with reporting contributions from The Associated Press and Reuters.
