A gunman shot and wounded four people at an education centre in central Sweden on Tuesday, police said, urging the public to stay away from the area as officers hunted for possible accomplices.
Images from the scene showed a large police presence with multiple ambulances and emergency vehicles outside the Campus Risbergska, a school for young adults in the town of Orebro.
Several media reported the suspected assailant had turned his gun on himself. Police would not confirm that but said five people were hurt overall, including one who was thought to be the gunman.
“One of the injured persons is a person whom we suspect may be the assailant,” Orebro police chief Roberto Eid Forest told a press conference as the massive police operation continued more than three hours after the attack.
“We can’t rule out other suspects, and that’s something we are continuing to work on in this intensive phase now — why it happened and if there are other possible suspects.”
He said police were not aware of a motive yet.
School attacks are relatively rare in Sweden, but the country has suffered shootings and bombings linked to gang violence that kill dozens of people each year.
Schools in lockdown
Students in several nearby schools as well as the one in question had been locked in “for safety reasons”, police said, but they were gradually evacuated during the afternoon.
“It is a very painful day for all of Sweden,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X.
“My thoughts are also with all those whose normal school day was replaced with horror. Being confined to a classroom fearing for your own life is a nightmare that no one should have to experience.”
He said the government was “closely monitoring developments”.
According to several Swedish media, witnesses reported hearing what they believed to be automatic gunfire.
( Source: AFP)