Ipswich tourist recalls fear during Krakow gun attack

A British tourist who took refuge inside a Krakow basilica as a gunman opened fire has recalled fearing the packed church would have become his next target.

Six people were killed – including a British national – and several others injured when a gunman opened fire in central Krakow, Poland’s second largest city, on Saturday.

Jonathan Balshaw, from Ipswich, Suffolk, was visiting the city with his girlfriend on a surprise trip for his 30th birthday.

The couple had been walking back to their accommodation through the city centre when they heard a series of loud bangs and all the pigeons in the square took flight.

Balshaw told BBC Radio Suffolk how he initially assumed the noise was a car backfiring but, having grown up in a military household, he then recognised the high-pitched crack of rifle fire.

He said: “We ran down an alley down the side of the church, the noise was obviously echoing down there and we had no idea where the shots were coming from.”