Sweden experienced just the worst mass shooting in its history. Here’s what we know

Cnn
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A gunman opened fire on an adult education center in the Swedish city of Örebro on Tuesday and killed at least 10 people in what the country’s prime minister called “worst mass shooting in Swedish history.”

The Swedish police still gather how the tragedy took place. Here’s what we know so far.

At. 12:33 Local Time (06:33 ET) Tuesday, police received reports of a shooting in Örebro, a city about 160 kilometers (100 miles) west of the capital, Stockholm.

The shooting took place on Campus Risbergska, a school for adults who have not completed previous educational stages. Such facilities are known as a komvux in Sweden. Komvuxes provides vocational education, Swedish language classes and other courses for adults seeking the qualifications needed to get employment. They are also important services for Sweden’s refugees and migrant populations.

Mobile phone videos showed students who took shelter under desks while alarms screamed and red light flashed.

“We heard Smell and loud screams. At first we did not understand what it was, but then we realized it could be shots, ”Andreas Sundling, a 28-year-old student on Campus, told CNN Affiliate Expressen.

He said his classmates barricaded the doors and took cover for about an hour before police entered the classroom and evacuated the students. “There was blood all over the corridor,” Sundling said.

At least 10 people were killed and six were injured in the attack, police say. The attacker also died.

In an update on Wednesday, Örebro regional authorities said six people were treated at the local university hospital.

Three women and two men, all adults, were hospitalized for gunshot wounds and underwent an operation. Originally assumed to have life -threatening injuries, authorities said the five are now in a “stable but serious” condition.

Another woman also received treatment for several minor injuries. No one else was hospitalized overnight, the authorities said.

When the attack began, many students had left campus after taking a national exam on Tuesday, Lena Warenmark, a teacher, told the Swedish public TV company SVT.

Mary Pegado, a 54-year-old teacher at the school, said she and her students had run into safety after someone burst into her classroom and asked them to get out.

“I think of my students,” Pegado told Reuters. “Many of them have fled from countries where things like this happen, and now they experience this. It’s terrible, ”she said.

Not much, yet. Police said the attacker was not known to them, that he was not associated with any gangs and that he was not assumed to act based on ideological motives.

“Currently, police believe the perpetrator was acting alone, but we cannot exclude several perpetrators associated with the incident,” police said Tuesday. Nor did they say what type of weapon the perpetrator used.

Police said the striker also shot at officers after they arrived in campus. At a press conference on Wednesday, police said when they found the striker, he was already dead and that it looks like he was shooting himself. The attacker has not yet been identified by the authorities.

School recordings are rare but Sweden – long associated with high living standards and a strong social safety net – have seen an increase in violent crime in recent years, driven partly by gang warrior.

By 2023, Sweden had the highest rate of deadly pistolds per year. Per capita in the European Union, according to Reuters. By 2024, at least 40 people were shot to death in the country with only 10 million people – down from a highlight of 63 people shot in death in 2022.

Although Sweden has high rates on gun possession according to EU standards, the Swedes have to get a license before they are allowed to own a weapon and the country puts tight restrictions on eligibility.

Prime Minister Kristerssson called for a study of how Tuesday’s “terrible” crime could have taken place.

“Today we have seen brutal, deadly violence against completely innocent people – this is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history,” he said.

King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia joined Kristerssson and other top officials to put flowers on a provisional guard outside the school on Wednesday.