Ukrainian man attacks priests with knife at Polish monastery: one dead, four wounded

A Ukrainian citizen carried out a stabbing attack on the grounds of a monastery center in Jarosław, Poland, on Thursday morning, attacking several clergymen with a knife.

One person was killed and four others were wounded. An eyewitness described what happened to the TVN24 television channel.

According to the witness, the attacker — a man of around thirty — ran across the grounds with a knife (other reports say a machete) and stabbed several priests.

“A man of about thirty struck a priest in the carotid artery. The priest fell. A man standing nearby tried to save the priest and asked the attacker to stop. The attacker then turned around and struck a priest who was walking toward the confessional in the back. Then he ran into a café and struck a priest on the head there,” the woman said.

The attack took place on the grounds of the Center for the Formation of Christian Culture, which operates at the Benedictine abbey in Jarosław, before the morning Mass. A 31-year-old Ukrainian citizen has been detained on suspicion of carrying out the attack.

Investigators are currently working to establish all the circumstances of the incident and the perpetrator’s motives.