Heart-pounding footage captured the moment a hero Polish cop took down a mass shooter who killed six people in Krakow’s historic market square Saturday in what officials are calling a terror attack, according to reports.
Now, he is fighting for his life — and the country’s leaders are calling for people to donate blood to help him.
Harrowing video shows two officers confront the 24-year-old gunman — who also allegedly murdered his parents and sister at their home — and exchange gunfire in the street at close distance.
One officer, Jakub Kulik, stands over the masked man in full tactical gear and fires multiple shots at him while he’s on the ground, the video shows.
He keeps his gun drawn before he collapses from his own injuries and rolls on his back.
Kulik is a veteran of of Poland’s elite 6th Airborne Brigade, according to Polish media.
Justice Minister Waldemar Żurek posted on social media: “An urgent appeal for blood for our hero from Kraków.
“Senior Constable Jakub Kulik, who today confronted an armed attacker without hestition, is now fighting for his life in hospital.
“One of his lungs is not functioning, and he needs every drop of blood he can get.”
The two officers rushed to the scene and engaged the gunman within three minutes of him opening fire, authorities said.
The two cops Jakub Kulik and senior constable Artur Moranski, remain in serious condition Sunday, with one of them still in a coma, officials said.
The suspect was eventually taken into custody and was also hospitalized in critical condition.
The haunting scenes unfolded near the intersection of Dietla and Stradomska streets, where police stopped the gunman after he shot dead four men and two women, one of which was a UK citizen. At least 15 others were injured, officials said, although it’s not clear how many were shot.
Żurek said on X Sunday that the shooter, who has not been identified, “acted with the aim of seriously intimidating a large number of people, making this a terrorist offence.”
“Senior constable Jakub Kulik and senior constable Artur Moranski are true heroes,” said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said, appearing to refer to both policemen seen in the footage.
Regional governor Krzysztof Klęczar told reporters at a news conference Sunday that without “the efficient and selfless intervention” of the officers, “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, Prime Minister Tusk revealed that authorities discovered the bodies of three of the suspect’s parents and sister inside of his home in Ostrowiec Świętokrzyski, a city about 93 miles northeast of Krakow, Poland’s second-largest city.
Gunshots rang out in Main Square, which is in the heart of Krakow’s Old Town and is a major tourist hub, around 3 p.m. sending people in the area running for their lives.
He went on a “wild ride” driving to multiple spots in the square and opened fire at each stop with an automatic weapon, Krakow police spokesperson Katarzyna Cisło said.
The attacker wore military-style fatigues and a bulletproof vest, and used a military-type long gun, according to Cisło. Police found other weapons and ammunition in his car.
He kept firing at the police even after being shot himself, she said.
Poland began two days of national mourning on Sunday.
With Post Wires
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
