They fled from the gunfire, then returned. Norwegian couple helped the injured in Kraków

It was Saturday, around 3 p.m. Tom and Unn-Britt Folvik were sitting with two couples they knew at a restaurant on Kraków’s Main Market Square when they heard the first sounds resembling gunshots. At first, they thought it was fireworks. However, they soon saw people fleeing and heard further bursts of gunfire, after which they themselves left the square. At the same time, other Norwegians staying in the city centre were looking for places to hide, Norway’s VG reports.

Tom Folvik estimated in an interview with VG that between 100 and 200 shots were fired in the square. He saw a car speeding through the Market Square, followed a few minutes later by police vehicles. When the cars disappeared down one of the streets, Tom and Unn-Britt returned to the area near the restaurant. There, they noticed a damaged entrance to a shop on the other side of the square and people performing CPR. Both decided to help.

They had professional training for this. Unn-Britt is an anaesthetic nurse, while Tom worked as a paramedic in the fire service for 20 years and has a total of 40 years of service experience. Unn-Britt entered the shop and attended to a woman who had been shot in the chest. Tom helped a woman whose body had been cut by glass after bullets shattered the windows. When the police arrived, officers asked the couple to continue caring for the injured.

For other Norwegians, the most important thing was to find shelter. Ida Sørlie and her partner Astor were having lunch in the Market Square when they heard the first three shots and then saw a crowd running towards them. The couple ran into a restaurant, went down to the basement and locked themselves in a toilet. They remained there for nearly two hours. When they came out, they saw shocked and crying people, VG writes.

Viktoria Årskaug, Sunniva Starheim and two other Norwegian women were about 50–100 metres from the site of the shooting. When further bursts of gunfire caused panic in the square, the whole group began fleeing down a side street. The women reached a hotel and, along with around ten other people, barricaded themselves in a room on the third floor. They hid there for about half an hour. Gunshots could still be heard after they entered the building. Later, they managed to return to their rented apartment in the Old Town.

After they had finished helping, Tom and Unn-Britt were taken to the police station, where they gave statements for around three hours. Police drove them back at about 9 p.m., when Kraków’s city centre remained closed and armed officers were on the streets. Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (UD) stated that it had no information at the time indicating that any Norwegian citizens were among the dead or injured.