Swedish police said today that the stabbing was a hate crime driven by racism.
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Dagens Nyheter, one of Sweden’s largest newspapers, posted a photo of a helmeted man with a dark mask, a dark outfit and a sword in his hand, claiming it was the attacker. News accounts said he killed a 20-year-old male teacher and a 17-year-old pupil from Somalia, and wounded two others – a teacher in her early 40s, and a 15-year-old student from Syria – before he was fatally shot by the police.
“One of my friends walked over to him to challenge him, but when we saw he stabbed (the teacher), we ran away”, one student said in the aftermath of the attack, according to the BBC.
Mourners light candles outside Kronan school in Trollhattan, Sweden, Friday, October 23, 2015, a day after an attack.
Police said that “all together, this gives a picture that the perpetrator had a racist motive when he committed the crimes at Krona school”.
Stalking through the school, he killed one teacher and a teenage student, and injured another teacher and student who both remained in hospital on Friday.
Police spokeswoman Maria Randsalu said the second victim was a male student, but did not say which one.
Police searched the attacker’s home and found “interesting” things, Haraldsson added, without elaborating.
“Also, the way the assailant dressed, acted and moved at the crime scene”. He said it was a “very traumatic experience” and the man was shot when the police went into the school.
Although a few media outlets have named the attacker as a 21-year old who even shouted the line from the Star Wars movie, “I am your father!” as he conducted his murder-spree, police have yet to officially confirm his identity.
The swordsman was shot once by police, and died later in a hospital after surgery.
Sukri Demir, a Turkish Kurd and former member of the city council in the Swedish city of Solna who has been active in various Kurdish associations, said he was very shocked by the attack.
A country of 9.8 million, Sweden expects to receive up to 190,000 asylum applications this year – putting it among the European Union states with the highest proportion of refugees per capita as the continent struggles with a massive influx of migrants. Signs in Swedish and Arabic urged people to respect the mourning.
The stabbings at the school have stunned Sweden.
The massive blast in Yola, the capital of Adamawa state, killed 27 people and wounded 96 during Friday afternoon prayers that were crowded with officials helping to inaugurate a new mosque, said Saad Bello of the National Emergency Management Agency. One student thought he was playing a Halloween prank.
Prime Minister Stefan Lofven of Sweden said it was a “dark day for Sweden” as he made his way to school.
Eyewitnesses described chaos at the school, with hundreds of students fleeing from the building screaming. Investigators say he also used a small knife in the attack.
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Provincial police Capt. Guy Lapointe says nine officers in the provincial police force were involved in the allegations but one of them has since died.
