Kraków mayor asks Tusk for 10 million zloty after Main Market Square shooting

The attack on Main Market Square

On Saturday, 7 November, a 24-year-old man drove a car onto the Main Market Square in Kraków and opened fire with an automatic weapon at people at random, Polsat News reported. Two police officers from the I Police Station in Kraków pursued his vehicle. After the car struck another vehicle and could go no further, an exchange of fire broke out, and the seriously wounded officers overpowered the attacker. Six people were killed in the shooting and 15 were wounded, according to Polsat News, while naTemat reported more than a dozen injured and said tourists were among the dead. The attacker died in hospital early on Monday, 9 November, which made him the seventh fatality.

Victims and regional aid

On Friday morning, Voivode Krzysztof Klęczar said the condition of the injured is steadily improving. Eleven of them are being treated in Kraków hospitals, and one person with liver injuries is at a clinical hospital in Warsaw. An Austrian citizen was transported home to continue treatment. Klęczar said updates would come less often and that hospitals, doctors or families are better placed to give detailed medical information. The injured come from three voivodeships, so social policy staff from three regional offices are contacting local governments to assess their needs. The voivodeship administration is preparing help for the injured and their families, but no formal applications for specific support have been filed yet, and psychological help was provided right after the attack.

Killed in shooting6

Attacker died in hospital1

Wounded15

Killed in shooting

6 people

Attacker died in hospital

1 people

Wounded

15 people

Data from the article text

The family deaths and the question of motive

Officers also found the bodies of the attacker's parents and sister in the family flat in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski. The investigation into those deaths is led by the Małopolska branch office of the National Prosecutor's Office. naTemat wrote that a thread of political extremism had surfaced in the case, but none of the reports reviewed establish a motive. Gibała, meanwhile, ties his request to the events of 7 November and says they show how important communication between services is.

Gibała's appeal to Tusk

On Friday, 13 November, Gibała said on X that he had made an urgent request to the prime minister for 10 million zloty from the state budget. The money would equip the City Security and Monitoring Centre now under construction, a facility where dispatchers from the Crisis Management Centre, police, the fire service and the municipal guard would work together. In a Friday statement, the city hall argued that the centre would streamline cooperation between services and speed up the flow of information during interventions and crises. The appeal came less than a week after the attack in the city centre.

Backing from Kraków's lawmakers

Gibała said the request was backed by Kraków's parliamentarians, naming Monika Piątkowska, Daria Gosek-Popiołek, Rafał Komarewicz and Jerzy Meysztowicz. Piątkowska, a senator, had been Gibała's rival in the race for the mayor's seat, and naTemat reported that their campaign clashes had sometimes ended in court. Gosek-Popiołek ran as the candidate of New Left (Nowa Lewica), while Komarewicz and Meysztowicz are KO deputies. Komarewicz sent a separate appeal to Tusk on X, writing:

“Mr Prime Minister, it is a matter of the highest importance. It concerns the safety of hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists from all over the world.”

Gibała closed his own post by saying that the safety of residents is and will be the city's priority.