Two teenagers are in hospital with severe injuries after a man armed with a sword attacked students at a Swedish high school on the first day of the new term. The incident occurred at Brinell High School in Fagersta, central Sweden, on Thursday afternoon, prompting a massive emergency response.
Attack and Response
Police were alerted at 2:06pm to reports of 'suspected deadly violence' and dispatched 'all available resources' to the school. Two boys were seriously injured in the attack, while a third victim suffered wounds of unknown extent. A spokesperson confirmed that one person was taken into custody at the scene and there was no longer any danger to the public, but declined to confirm whether anyone had been killed. Local reports say the suspect was shot in the leg by officers.
The school, which has 450 students aged 16 to 20, was placed under lockdown, as were eight other schools in the area. Public buildings in Fagersta, a town of 13,000 people, were also locked down. The Vastmanland county authority said it was 'moving into high alert status to marshal our resources and gain the clearest possible picture of the situation.'
Suspect and Motive
Public broadcaster SVT, citing anonymous sources, reported that the arrested individual was an 18-year-old former student with a previous assault conviction. His home was searched after the arrest, and police are investigating a TikTok account that shared an image of a sword about 25 minutes before the attack. The account had previously posted material praising mass murderers, though its connection to the suspect is not yet confirmed. The suspect wore a helmet during the attack.
Students described fleeing in terror. 'We just all ran,' said Abdulrahem Salmo, who saw one victim with a bloody stab wound to their arm. 'Then people called the police, and we just all ran from there because we were afraid.' Madelene Jansson, whose daughter attends the school, told the local newspaper Fagersta-posten that her child texted her saying 'somebody had been stabbed, and the police were on their way.' She added, 'Then it all just went off. It feels unreal.'
National Reaction
The Swedish government has been in contact with police, and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson urged the public to let emergency services work undisturbed. 'Our thoughts are with all those affected,' he wrote on X. Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson said, 'All of Sweden stands together with Fagersta at this difficult time.'
The attack comes 18 months after the worst mass shooting in Swedish history, when a gunman killed 10 people at a school in Orebro, also in central Sweden, before taking his own life. The investigation into Thursday's sword attack is ongoing, and police have not yet released further details about the victims' conditions.
