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| Man Kills 2 at School in Sweden and Wounds Several Others | Man Kills 2 at School in Sweden and Wounds Several Others |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| LONDON — A 21-year-old man armed with a sword or a large knife entered a school in southwest Sweden on Thursday morning, killed a teacher and a student, and injured two other people before he was fatally shot by the police, the authorities said. | |
| The shooting occurred in the cafe area of a school in Kronogarden, a working-class and heavily immigrant neighborhood in the struggling industrial city of Trollhattan, which is about 45 miles north of Sweden’s second-largest city, Goteborg. The suspect died after being taken to a hospital, police said. | |
| The attack stunned Sweden, where violent crime is relatively rare. | The attack stunned Sweden, where violent crime is relatively rare. |
| “Sweden is in shock,” King Carl XVI Gustaf said in a statement. “It’s with great dismay and sorrow that I and my family have been informed of the events in Trollhattan.” | “Sweden is in shock,” King Carl XVI Gustaf said in a statement. “It’s with great dismay and sorrow that I and my family have been informed of the events in Trollhattan.” |
| Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, while en route to the school, said in a statement, “This is a dark day for Sweden.” | |
| He continued: “My thoughts go out to the victims and their families, pupils and staff, and the entire community that has been affected. There are no words to describe what they are going through right now.” | |
| Stefan Gustafsson, a spokesman for the regional police, said in a phone interview that the police had been called to the scene around 10:10 a.m. and had shot the suspect. “This has been a very traumatic experience,” he said. “When police entered the school, the man was shot. Many people have gone to the hospital.” | |
| According to the police, the suspect used the blade to chop or slice his victims. Gunshots were also heard inside the school. | According to the police, the suspect used the blade to chop or slice his victims. Gunshots were also heard inside the school. |
| Maria Randsalu, a police spokeswoman, said the suspect had been living in Trollhattan. She said the police did not yet know his mental state or motive. He had no criminal record. | |
| The school was built in 2009 and has more than 400 students from preschool through ninth grade, the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported. | The school was built in 2009 and has more than 400 students from preschool through ninth grade, the newspaper Svenska Dagbladet reported. |
| The newspaper Expressen quoted a news photographer on the scene, Stefan Bennhage, describing “complete chaos” and saying that one ambulance, responding to the scene, had failed to stop and had crashed into a school wall. | The newspaper Expressen quoted a news photographer on the scene, Stefan Bennhage, describing “complete chaos” and saying that one ambulance, responding to the scene, had failed to stop and had crashed into a school wall. |
| The Local, an English-language news network, quoted a student as saying: “I was in a classroom with my class when one of my classmates’ sisters called her to warn her that there was a murderer at the school. So we locked the door to the classroom, but our teacher was still outside in the corridor. We wanted to warn him, so a few of us went outside and then I saw the murderer, he was wearing a mask and had a sword. Our teacher got stabbed. The murderer started chasing me. I ran into another classroom. If I had not run, I would have been murdered.” | |
| The Swedish news media reported that the suspect was wearing a mask, and that some of the students initially thought someone was pulling a Halloween prank. | |
| Unlike in the United States, which has been roiled by a series of deadly shootings at schools and universities, violent attacks at schools are very rare in Sweden, which is known for its generous welfare state and social cohesion. As of 2009, according to a report that year by the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention, there had not been a school shooting in Sweden with multiple victims. | |
| Felipe Estrada, a criminologist at Stockholm University, said that the country was convulsed by the event. | |
| “Lethal or aggravated violence in Swedish schools is extremely rare, and schools are seen as places where our kids are safe,” Professor Estrada said. “It is shocking, and it is very, very rare to see lethal violence between people who don’t know each other or against children.” | “Lethal or aggravated violence in Swedish schools is extremely rare, and schools are seen as places where our kids are safe,” Professor Estrada said. “It is shocking, and it is very, very rare to see lethal violence between people who don’t know each other or against children.” |
| Alluding to Sweden’s tough gun-control laws, he added, “If the attacker had had an automatic machine gun, the consequences would have been much worse.” | Alluding to Sweden’s tough gun-control laws, he added, “If the attacker had had an automatic machine gun, the consequences would have been much worse.” |
| Trollhattan is known in Sweden as the home of the main production plant for the carmaker Saab. Production at the factory was suspended from 2011 until 2013, while the troubled carmaker was taken over by a holding company, which announced plans to reinvent Saab as a manufacturer of electric vehicles. | Trollhattan is known in Sweden as the home of the main production plant for the carmaker Saab. Production at the factory was suspended from 2011 until 2013, while the troubled carmaker was taken over by a holding company, which announced plans to reinvent Saab as a manufacturer of electric vehicles. |