At least 10 died in Sweden’s ‘worst mass shooting,’ says leader

A shooting at an adult education campus in Central Sweden on Tuesday left at least 10 people died and wounded a non -public number of others, in what the prime minister called the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.

The suspect was among the dead, said the country’s Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer. But the authorities released few other details, including the person’s identity and a possible motive.

“We don’t think there’s any terrorist motive behind this, but it’s too early in the investigation to say,” said Roberto Eid Forest, the head of the local police, Tuesday night. “We think we have the perpetrator,” he added, “but we don’t exclude anything.”

The shooting took place in Orebro, a city about 120 miles west of the capital, Stockholm. It came as Sweden, more commonly linked to high living standards, women’s rights and relatively welcoming asylum policies, has struggled with a constantly swallowing epidemic of pistolds and one of the highest pr. Capita rates for pistolds in the European Union, police statistics show.

The shot broke out around 1 p.m. 12.30 local time on Risbergska Education CenterThere are about 2,000 students, offering classes for adults who study for a high school exam together with Swedish-language classes and business classes, says its website, in a city that has a large population of immigrants and asylum seekers.

Sending mobile phone recordings On local TV Stations showed that students throw themselves under desks and chairs, and others running from the building to emergencies. Authorities said late Tuesday that the number of wounded people was still unclear.

“I ate with colleagues when many students suddenly came running and said we should leave,” the center’s principal, Ingela Back Gustafsson, told Sweden’s public TV company, SVT. “When we were out in the school yard, I heard a lot of shots nearby. We shouted, ‘Run, run.’ And we ran for our lives. “

Authorities launched a “larger operation”, with police cars swarming campus, lots of armed special forces, as officers wasting out of vehicles and officials locking campus, several schools in the area and even a restaurant as they searched for shooter.

Police officers examined several addresses in the city, authorities said. In a statement, they did not exclude the possibility that the shooter may have worked with others. After several hours, police evacuated the center’s classrooms, enabling dozens of students and children to leave.

Mr. Forest said the shooter had probably acted alone, was not affiliated with a gang and had not been known to the police.

The shooting sent shock waves over the Scandinavian country.

“We have seen a brutal act of violence,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristerssson said in a television address. “This is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history.”

Mr. Kristersson also said in a statement On social media: “It’s a very painful day for all Sweden. Being locked in a classroom that fears for your life is a nightmare that no one should have to experience. “

Shootings are rare in Swedish schools, but the country has seen an increase in violent crime in recent years. Its murder rate has risen among the highest in the European Union, the Swedish National Council of Crime Prevention said this year.

While Sweden has strict pistoll legislation, with licenses that are usually limited to hunting rifles, criminologists have associated an increase in shootings to the illegal drug trafficking and stock of firearms smuggled from Balkan countries after the war, Eastern Europe and Turkey. Bands are also known for breaking and recruiting children as young as 11 as contracting killers, police say.

The record for the highest number of shooting recordings was set in 2022 with 391 episodes, The police figures show.

By 2022, an 18-year-old student killed an EAC, a knife and a hammer two teachers in the southern city of Malmo. In 2015, Sweden was stunned when a 21-year-old man, armed with a sword, killed a teacher and a student at a school in the southwestern part of the country.

The mass shooting on Tuesday left the Swedes.

“We haven’t had these kinds of shootings in Sweden before,” said Anders Svahn, a teacher at another school in Orebro, by phone Tuesday. “One is very touched and influenced by this. I know people who work there. “

Last year, teachers and students practiced at Mr. Svahn’s High School, which also offers adult education, a shelter-in-space exercise for the first time, he said.

“It’s a risk that has risen, but it’s not something you think about every day,” he added.

Classes in the Risbergska Center will probably not take place on Wednesday, and it was not clear if other schools in the area would open again.

Nooshi Dadgostar, the opposition leader left the party, said on social media: “Shocked by the terrible news from Orebro. The violence that our country undergoes is an abyss we need to find our way out of together. “