Around 10 people were killed in a shooting at an adult education centre yesterday, Swedish police said, the deadliest attack to take place in the country on what the prime minister said was a ‘painful day’ for the country.
Police said the gunman was believed to be among those killed and that a search was continuing at the school for other possible victims. The gunman’s motive was not immediately known.
“We know that 10 or so people have been killed here today. The reason that we can’t be more exact currently is that the extent of the incident is so large,” local police chief Roberto Eid Forest told a news conference.
Forest said police believed the gunman had acted alone and that they did not currently suspect terrorism as a motive, though he cautioned that much remained unknown. He said the suspected gunman had not previously been known to police.
“We have a big crime scene, we have to complete the searches we are conducting in the school. There are a number of investigative steps we are taking: a profile of the perpetrator, witness interviews,” he said.
Police said they had opened an investigation into murder, arson and an aggravated weapons offence.
The shooting took place in Orebro, about 200km west of Stockholm, at the Risbergska school for adults who did not complete their formal education or failed to get the grades to continue to higher education. It is located on a campus that also houses schools for children.
“It is a very painful day for the whole of Sweden,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on X.
Kristersson later told a Press conference the mass shooting was the worst in Swedish history. “It is hard to take in the full extent of what has happened today, the darkness that now lowers itself across Sweden tonight,” he said.
King Carl XVI Gustaf conveyed his condolences. “It is with deep sadness and dismay that my family and I received the news about the terrible atrocity in Orebro,” he said.
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