‘Brutal violence’: Multiple people killed in shooting at school in Sweden

Orebro, Sweden: About 11 people, including the gunman, have been killed at an adult education centre in what Sweden’s prime minister has called the country’s worst mass shooting. But a final death toll, a conclusive number of people wounded, and a motive hadn’t yet been determined hours later.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson gave a news conference in the aftermath of the tragedy on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT), which happened on the outskirts of the city of Orebro, about 200 kilometres west of Stockholm.

“Today, we have witnessed brutal, deadly violence against completely innocent people,” Kristersson told reporters in Stockholm.

“This is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history. Many questions remain unanswered, and I cannot provide those answers either.

“But the time will come when we will know what happened, how it could occur, and what motives may have been behind it. Let us not speculate,” he said.

Later in the evening the police website said: “At this time, there are 11 deaths due to the incident. The number of injured is still unclear. We currently have no information on the condition of those who have been injured.”

The school, called Campus Risbergska, serves students over the age of 20, according to its website. Primary and upper secondary school courses are offered, as well as Swedish classes for immigrants, vocational training and programs for people with intellectual disabilities.

Emergency services at the scene of the shooting at Risbergska School, in Orebro, Sweden.Credit: AP

The shooting erupted after many students had gone home following a national exam. Police vehicles and ambulances, lights flashing, blanketed the carparks and streets around the school as a helicopter buzzed overhead.

Teacher Lena Warenmark told SVT News that there were unusually few students on the campus on Tuesday afternoon after the exam. She said she heard about 10 gunshots.

Students sheltered in nearby buildings and other parts of the school were evacuated following the shooting, which began about 12.30pm local time.

Andreas Sundling, 28, was among those forced to barricade themselves inside the school. “We heard three bangs and loud screams,” he told Expressen newspaper while sheltering in a classroom.

Maria Pegado, 54, a teacher at the school, said someone threw open the door to her classroom just after lunch break and shouted to everyone to get out.

“I took all my 15 students out into the hallway and we started running,” she told Reuters by phone. “Then I heard two shots but we made it out. We were close to the school entrance.

“I saw people dragging injured out, first one, then another. I realised it was very serious,” she said.

Sweden has a high level of gun ownership by European standards, mainly linked to hunting, but has has been struggling with a wave of shootings and bombings caused by an endemic gang crime problem that has seen the country of 10 million people record by far the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the EU in recent years. There have also been several incidents in recent years in which people were wounded or killed with other weapons, such as knives or axes.

Emergency services work at the scene of shooting at Campus Risbergska School, in Orebro, Sweden.Credit: AP

However, fatal attacks at schools are rare. A total of 10 people were killed in seven incidents of deadly violence at schools between 2010 and 2022, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.

‘Indescribably sad’

Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer called the shooting “an event that shakes our entire society to its core”.

While Swedes read about such violence in other places, Strommer said that the country previously felt it wouldn’t happen there. Other tragedies in Swedish schools weren’t to the extent of this attack, he said, calling it “indescribably sad” for the community.

The damage at the crime scene is so extensive that investigators have not yet established a final death toll, said Roberto Eid Forest, head of the local police. Authorities were working to identify the deceased.

Forest told reporters the suspected gunman was among those killed. Police believed he acted alone and wasn’t previously known to authorities.

There were no suspected connections to terrorism at this point, police said, but no motive was yet known.

Police raided the suspect’s home after the shooting, but it wasn’t immediately clear what they found. Eid Forest said there were no warning signs before the attack.

Later police said it was still going through the crime scene and had searched several addresses in Orebro. Police vans and personnel were still outside an apartment building in central Orebro that had been raided earlier.

“We saw a lot of police with drawn weapons,” said Lingam Tuohmaki, 42, who lives in the same building. “We were at home and heard a commotion outside.”

Police cordon off an area near Risbergska School in Orebro after the shooting. Credit: AP

“Of course, we all want to understand why this happened, what occurred, and what motives the perpetrator may have had,” the prime minister said.

“We will have to wait for those answers – in due time, the picture will become clearer.”

Swedish King Carl XVI Gustaf praised police and medical responders and issued words of comfort to the victims’ families.

“It is with sadness and dismay that my family and I have received the information about the terrible atrocity in Orebro,” the monarch said in a statement.

“We send our condolences tonight to the families and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts at this time also go to the injured and their relatives, as well as to others affected.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed her sympathy on X, saying: “In this dark hour, we stand with the people of Sweden.”

AP, Reuters

Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.