Survivors of Sweden’s worst mass shooting on Wednesday recalled trying to save the lives of their comrades at a school for adults in Orebro, a day after a gunman killed at least 11 people on what the prime minister called a “dark day” in the country’s history.
Police said there was no evidence that the suspect, named by Swedish media as Rickard Andersson, a 35-year-old unemployed recluse, had “ideological motives”. A police source also named Andersson as the suspect.
A police spokesperson declined to comment on the name of the suspect.
Besides the dead, several more people were wounded in the attack at the Risbergska adult education centre in Orebro, a city of more than 100,000 people some 200km west of Stockholm, on Tuesday. The police discovered Andersson’s body at the scene.
Police believe the killer, who they said was not previously known to them, had acted alone.
“We will get back on what motives there are,” local police chief Roberto Eid Forest told a press conference earlier on Wednesday.
Five of the six wounded who were treated in hospital – four women and two men – had required surgery for gunshot wounds and remained in a serious condition, regional authorities said.
The exact number of those wounded in the attack has not been confirmed by police.
Some students were in class and others were having lunch when the gunman began firing at about 12.30pm on Tuesday.
“A guy next to me was shot in the shoulder. He was bleeding a lot. When I looked behind me I saw three people on the floor bleeding. Everyone was shocked. They said: ‘Go out! Get out!’,” a student named Marwa told broadcaster TV4.
“I took my friend’s shawl and tied it tightly around his shoulder so that he wouldn’t bleed so much.”
Hellen Werme (35), a nursing student, said that after hearing shots she had hidden under a bed to evade the gunman.
“The teacher shouted for us to lock the door and get down on the floor,” the mother of two told Reuters. “I thought that this was my last time, my last day. That I’m getting shot today.”
Ms Werme said she had still not been able to get in touch with five of her classmates, who were in a different part of the school when the shooting occurred. “I never want to go back there,” she said.
Many students in Sweden’s adult school system are immigrants seeking qualifications to help them find jobs in the Nordic country, while also learning Swedish.
The Campus Risbergska school has about 2,700 pupils, about 800 of whom were enrolled in Swedish For Immigrants courses, according to information provided by the local authority.
It said the students, who vary in age from 18 to 70, come from a range of backgrounds and nationalities.
Flags were flying at half-mast in Orebro, as well as at parliament and the royal palace in Stockholm.
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia visited the school and attended a memorial service at the St Nikolai church in central Orebro.
“A grieving process is hard to do alone,” the king told reporters after laying white flowers at a memorial site with candles near the school. “I think all of Sweden feels it has experienced this traumatic event.”
The royal couple were joined by prime minister Ulf Kristersson in the trip to Orebro.
“February 4th will forever mark a dark day in Swedish history,” Mr Kristersson said in a statement. “We are a country in mourning and we must all come together.
“Together, we must help the injured and their relatives bear the grief and weight of this day.”
Candles and flowers have been placed near the single-storey school in Haga Street, where police officers continued their investigations.
The morning after the attack, Orebro was still in shock over the worst mass murder in Swedish history.
“That it could happen in Orebro – that was totally unexpected,” mayor John Johansson told broadcaster SVT. “I understand that children, our youth, are very afraid today. So am I.”
Police said they did not see any general threat against schools or preschools in the country, nor against adult education schools, including Swedish classes for immigrants.
Sweden 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 European Union in recent years.
However, fatal attacks at schools are rare.
Ten people were killed in seven incidents of deadly violence at schools between 2010 and 2022, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention. - Reuters
