In brief

• Two Krakow surgeons dining near the Main Market Square rushed to treat the wounded after a shooting.
• They say they treated two police officers and the suspect, all with gunshot wounds.
• One of the surgeons believes their intervention saved one officer's life; the emergency response is said to have limited the death toll.

Surgeons on the scene

Prof. Michał Pędziwiatr and Dr. Mateusz Wierdak, both surgeons at the University Hospital in Krakow, were having a meal with their families at a restaurant near the intersection of Dietla and Stradomska streets when the gunfire broke out. They said they ran to help without waiting for official assistance. (Dwaj chirurdzy ratowali rannych w Krakowie. „To policjant jest bohaterem” – Rzeczpospolita) (Strzelanina w Krakowie. Dwaj znani chirurdzy znaleźli się w samym środku tragedii – Rzeczpospolita) (Zamach w Krakowie. Dwaj chirurdzy natychmiast ruszyli na pomoc rannym. „Liczyły się sekundy” – kurierlubelski.pl) (Dwaj znani chirurdzy ratowali policjantów zanim przybyła karetka. Wstrząsające szczegóły tragedii w Krakowie – Dziennik.pl) (Szybka reakcja chirurgów po zamachu w Krakowie. Prof. Pędziwiatr dla Onetu: uratował mu tym życie – Onet)

Treating the wounded

The doctors first assessed the injured. Pędziwiatr told the Gazeta Krakowska daily that two police officers were conscious and had gunshot wounds to the chest. The suspect was also conscious and reported wounds to the abdomen, thigh and chest. The surgeons said they treated everyone present, regardless of whether they were officers or the attacker. (Ratował rannych po zamachu w Krakowie. "Nie czuję się bohaterem" – Wirtualna Polska)

Attack and arrest

The attacker drove across the Main Market Square and then along Grodzka and Stradomska streets, firing at people. (Pomogli ofiarom ataku w Krakowie. "Zrobiliśmy to, co umieliśmy" – Dziennik.pl) (Lekarze ratowali policjantów po zamachu w Krakowie. "Tak znaleźliśmy się w oku cyklonu" – Onet) The chase ended at the Dietla and Stradomska junction, where he collided with another car and exchanged fire with two officers who had followed him in a patrol car. Both officers and the suspect were wounded, as was one of the drivers.

Response of the emergency services

At a press conference, Wierdak described the incident as a mass-casualty event spread across several locations at once. He said the emergency services acted correctly and that the number of medical teams deployed in Krakow hospitals exceeded the number of victims, which he believes limited the death toll.

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