A Swedish woman in her sixties was the victim of a stabbing on Friday afternoon, allegedly by a man who expressed hatred for white women.
The stabbing took place in the city of Stockholm in the Södermalm area in the centre of the city just after noon. Police say the suspect involved threatened the woman and tried to rob her before stabbing her and running away from the scene.
According to a report from newspaper Aftonbladet, a knife was found at the scene of the stabbing. Carina Skagerlind of the police command centre said that while police had found a weapon it was not clear it was the one used in the attack.
As of Friday afternoon, police had not managed to arrest the suspected attacker. A witness to the attack told Aftonbladet the man had expressed hatred for white women.
Police are currently investigating possible leads in the case and have begun interviewing witnesses and examining any potential CCTV footage in the area.
Serious and violent crimes have seen a surge in Sweden in the 21st century according to research done by the Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing, who released a study earlier this year measuring the Crime Harm Index (CHI) of the country.
The study was highlighted earlier this week by Swedish economist Tino Sanandaji, who noted that while the overall rate of crime has remained somewhat steady, serious crimes have dramatically increased since around 2006.
Much of the increase in violent crimes, partially shootings and bombings, has been attributed to the rising levels of gang crime across certain areas of the country, especially in so-called “vulnerable” areas, also known as no-go zones.
Earlier this year, it was noted by broadcaster SVT thatm despite the Chinese coronavirus outbreak and national police anti-gang operations, shootings had increased in Sweden in the first three and a half months of 2020 compared to the year prior.