Sweden has experienced this Tuesday the deadliest shooting in its modern history. A 35-year-old man, with no prior record and a gun license, burst into an adult education center in the city of Örebro, west of Stockholm, leaving 11 dead and several wounded, who are struggling between life and death before taking his own life. The motive for the attack remains a mystery.
Two hours of horror
The school in Örebro experienced a real nightmare. The shooting started at noon, around 12:30. According to initial assumptions, it took 186 minutes from the first 911 call about the first shots until the police managed to secure the area.
According to Svenska Dagbladet, the students barricaded themselves in to protect themselves from the armed and darkly dressed assailant.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson called the massacre “the worst shooting in the country’s history” at a press conference in which he expressed his dismay. “We have seen brutal deadly violence against completely innocent people,” he declared. Authorities have opened an investigation for murder, arson and an aggravated weapons offense.
An unprecedented attack in Sweden
The shooting took place at the Risbergska Campus, an adult education center that hosts students who did not complete their basic academic training or are seeking to enter university. The campus is located in an area that also houses schools for children, which forced the evacuation of several nearby educational centers.
According to witnesses, the attack took place at around 12:30 p.m., when many students had already left the premises after finishing their exams. Maria Pegado, a 54-year-old teacher, told Reuters how a gunman burst into her class and ordered them to leave. “I pulled my 15 students out into the hallway and we started running. Then I heard two gunshots,” he explained. “I saw people crawling, some were injured. I realized it was something very serious.”
Police were alerted shortly after the shooting began and activated an emergency protocol. For several hours, students and teachers remained confined inside the campus until security forces secured the area and evacuated the survivors.
The attacker: a man with no criminal record who acted alone
Authorities have confirmed that the perpetrator of the massacre is a 35-year-old man with a gun license and no criminal record. Any links to organized crime or terrorist groups were initially ruled out, so the main hypothesis is that he acted as a “lone wolf”.
The assailant committed suicide after the attack, leaving questions about his motivation. Investigators have raided his home in search of clues and are analyzing his environment, social networks and possible personal or psychological problems that may have triggered the attack.
Örebro police chief Roberto Eid Forest confirmed that the case is at a very early stage of investigation. “There are no indications that the attacker had a criminal record or gang connections,” he said.
