STOCKHOLM (AP) – Two teachers were killed by a student at a high school in southern Sweden, police said Tuesday.
UPDATE 11:00 — Student arrested in connection to attack
The 18-year-old student was arrested at the scene on Monday in Malmö, Sweden´s third-largest city. The victims were two women in their 50s, police said.
The suspect wasn’t previously known to the police and had no criminal record, and police didn’t disclose how the teachers were killed. A motive hasn’t been established.
“For now it is far too early to comment on that,” Malmö Police Chief Petra Stenkula told a news conference.
She said officers arrived and found the suspect and two victims on the third floor of the downtown Malmö Latin School 10 minutes after they were alerted, adding that the situation was then “under control.”
Stenkula didn’t confirm a report by the Aftonbladet newspaper, saying the male student himself called authorities to say he had killed two people, had put down his weapons and was on the third floor.
Police commandos enter a building at the scene of a reported incident at the Latin School in Malmo, Sweden on March 21, 2022 which left several people wounded. – Sweden OUT (Photo by Johan NILSSON / various sources / AFP) / Sweden OUT (Photo by JOHAN NILSSON/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)
Police made “seizures” and a forensic examination “will allow us to better understand what happened,” Stenkula said, adding authorities have no information of any further injuries.
Police said they were called at 5:12 p.m. Monday. Scores of ambulances and patrol cars rushed to the school and armed police were seen entering the building, which was cordoned off.
Students at the school, which has about 1,100 students, had gathered to work on a musical and students locked themselves inside classrooms.
Sweden´s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said she reacted “with sadness and dismay” to the killings, according to the Swedish news agency TT.
All classes were suspended Tuesday and the school was closed.
The killings took place in a modern annex of the school, which was founded in 1406 when the pope issued a letter of privilege allowing for its construction and operation. It was originally meant to educate local youth on Christian doctrine and the Latin language.
Katarina Blennow lays flowers outside Malmoe Latin School the day after the attack, where two women were killed, in Malmoe on March 22, 2022. – 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. The suspect was arrested without difficulty shortly after the arrival of the first patrol, according to the police account. – Sweden OUT (Photo by Johan NILSSON / various sources / AFP) / Sweden OUT (Photo by JOHAN NILSSON/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)
Original story continues as follows…
Swedish police said Monday at least two people were injured and one person has been arrested in Malmö, Sweden’s third-largest city, during an after-school incident at a high school.
Police said the situation was under control, adding they had responded to “a suspected serious crime.” The Aftonbladet newspaper said students were being kept inside the classrooms.
Police said they got the alarm at 5:12 p.m. Armed police were seen entering Malmö Latin School, which was cordoned off, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported, adding it was unclear what had happened but that several people were reported injured. It said students had gathered to work on a musical.
There were several ambulances outside the school, which has 1,100 students, Aftonbladet wrote.
“This is absolutely terrible,” school principal Fredrik Hemmensjö told the daily.
The incident took place in a modern annex of the school, which was founded in 1406 when the pope issued a letter of privilege allowing for its construction and operation. It was originally meant to educate local youth on Christian doctrine and the Latin language.
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