Europe

Two women dead after violent incident at Swedish school

No reports of gunfire, police say, as man aged 18 arrested on suspicion of murder

Police officers attend the scene at a school in Malmo, Sweden. Photograph: Johan Nilsson/TT via AP

Tue Mar 22 2022 - 06:47

Two women have died after being stabbed at a high school in southern Sweden on Monday, police said, adding that an 18-year-old student had been arrested.

The two women, both in their 50s, were employees of the school, the police said in a statement following the attack at Malmo latinskola, a secondary school in the centre of Malmo, the country's third largest city.

Local media said the alleged attacker called the emergency number to say where he was and that he had put down his weapon and admitted to having killed two people.

He was armed with a knife and an axe, according to several Swedish media.

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The suspect was arrested without difficulty shortly after the arrival of the first patrol, according to the police account.

Earlier in the evening, police had initially reported two injured among the around 50 people in the school at the time of the incident.

The two victims “were taken to the hospital but their lives could not be saved”, the authorities said.

"This is absolutely terrible," the school principal Fredrik Hemmensjo told the Aftonbladet newspaper.

Footage shows heavily equipped and armed police inspecting the interior of the building.

The incident took place in a new annexe of the school, which was founded in 1406. It was originally meant to educate local youth in Christian doctrine and Latin.

The school remained cordoned off with police tape several hours later, and numerous police cars and ambulances were still at the scene.

After initial reports of screaming in the school, "we have had more information that pointed to a serious crime being committed and that violence was occurring in the school," police spokesman Nils Norling told AFP.

“The first police patrol on site was able to arrive at the school and arrest a male suspect. They were also able to see that there were two injured people inside the school,” he said.

No motive has been established so far.

After extensively inspecting the scene and interviewing witnesses, the authorities are convinced the suspect acted alone. – Guardian News and Media 2022

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