The victim of a deadly sword attack at a school in central Sweden was a 17-year-old girl, police said Saturday.
An 18-year-old man armed with a sword carried out the attack while classes were in session on Friday. One person was killed and three others were wounded, two of them severely.
Police said the suspect had been arrested and that the case was being investigated as murder and attempted murder. The police said they have no reason to believe there were more perpetrators.
There was no official information on the attacker’s possible motive.
The attack happened in Fagersta, northwest of Stockholm. The local county said the two seriously injured boys were aged 12 and 17. A third person, also under 18, was slightly injured and has been discharged from a hospital, Swedish news agency TT reported.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and opposition leader Magdalena Andersson visited the makeshift memorial outside the school. Credit: AP
On Saturday morning, around 70 people gathered at the memorial site that the municipality prepared, carrying flowers and lighting candles, TT reported.
Sweden’s national police said that investigators have already carried out two house searches in connection with the suspect. Many witnesses were expected to be interviewed as part of the investigation.
The region went into a state of emergency on Friday, but it had ended by Saturday.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said it was a ‘dark day’ for Sweden, in a post on X on Friday.
“Now is the time to pull together and support all those who need it. In due course, the important questions about the motive will also become clear. I strongly urge everyone to now let the police work undisturbed to solve this horrific crime.”Today is a dark day in Sweden. Think of all those affected today, and give your own loved ones an extra tight hug tonight.”
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Sweden has seen a series of violent school attacks over the years.
Last year, 11 people, including the gunman, died after an attack at an education centre in Örebro in central Sweden, leading the government to propose tougher gun laws. It’s considered to be the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.
In 2022, an 18-year-old man attacked two female teachers with a knife and an axe in a school in Malmo, killing them.
In 2015, a 21-year-old local man rampaged through a school in the southern industrial city of Trollhattan, stabbing three people to death before being fatally shot by police. Authorities called it a racist hate crime, saying he methodically selected dark-skinned victims at Trollhattan’s Kronan school, where most students are foreign-born.
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