Police say around 10 people have been killed in a shooting at an education centre in central Sweden, including the suspected gunman.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson described Tuesday’s attack at Risbergska school in Orebro, 200km (124 miles) west of the capital city Stockholm, as the “worst mass shooting in Swedish history”.
Police said they believe the male perpetrator to be among the dead and that he was not previously known to them. There was no immediately identifiable motive and he was believed to be acting alone, they said.
“It is difficult to take in the magnitude of what has happened today,” Kristersson said at an evening news conference.
Police earlier warned the death toll could continue to rise as several people had been injured.
A number of the injured have been taken to hospital, with at least four people undergoing operations.
Police initially said five people had been shot, and the incident was being investigated as an attempted murder, arson and an aggravated weapons offence.
Local media later began reporting that several people had died, before police said “around 10” people had been killed but they “could not be more specific” about the number of fatalities.
They also confirmed there did not appear to be a “terror” motive behind the attack.
Police heard reports of a shooting taking place at Risbergska school – an adult education centre – at 12:33 local time (11:44 GMT). The facility sits on a campus that is home to other schools.
These centres are attended primarily by people who have not finished primary or secondary school.
Earlier, students at several nearby schools were being kept indoors “for security purposes”.
“We don’t want members of the public to go there,” Orebro police chief Roberto Eid Forest warned.
Nearby hospitals had cleared their emergency rooms and intensive care units to free up space for patients, local media reported.
Orebro University Hospital said five people injured by gunshot wounds were treated at its emergency room. An additional sixth person, not injured by a gun, had “minor injuries” treated, it said.
No children were among the people being treated there, the municipality for Orebro County said in an update.
Teacher Lena Warenmark told SVT, Swedish public radio, she heard around 10 gunshots close to her study.
The Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said today is “a very painful day for all in Sweden” as he shared that those who had a “normal school day” replaced “with terror” are all in his thoughts.
“Being confined to a classroom with fear for your own life is a nightmare that no one should have to experience,” Kristersson said in a post on X.
“The government is in close contact with the Police Authority and is closely monitoring developments.”
His justice minister, Gunnar Strommer, echoed those remarks, telling local broadcaster SVT “the news of an attack at Orebro is very serious”.
