What changed
A mass shooting near Krakow’s Main Market Square killed six people and injured 15 on Saturday. Two surgeons, Professor Michal Pędziwiatr and Dr Mateusz Wierdak, treated victims at the scene, including police officers Jakub Kulik and Artur Morański, who were shot while subduing the attacker.
Wierdak treated one officer’s chest wound with bandages and his hands while an ambulance was delayed. Pędziwiatr said that emergency treatment “undoubtedly” saved the officer’s life. Both officers emerged from comas on Sunday.
Why it matters
The first medical response happened on the pavement, before hospital specialists could take over. Wierdak compressed the chest wound, while Pędziwiatr pushed for the officer to be taken to John Paul II Hospital, where thoracic and cardiac surgeons could treat that kind of injury.
That decision mattered because the officer’s survival depended on bridging the gap between the shooting and definitive care. The surgeons also treated the apparent attacker. As Pędziwiatr put it, saving lives came before deciding who was who.
The wider investigation is still unsettled. Polish prosecutors have opened a terror investigation, and ministers said the 24-year-old attacker appeared to have been inspired by far-right ideologies. Authorities have not named him, and the legal classification of the attack remains under examination. He is in critical condition.
The dead included a British national, an Austrian woman and four Polish nationals. Six Dublin Civil Defence volunteers also helped nearby, providing CPR and haemorrhage control as panic spread around the square.
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