Helsinki, Feb 5: Swedish police confirmed on Wednesday that the death toll in the school shooting in central Sweden’s Orebro has risen to 11, with six others hospitalised. At a press conference on Wednesday morning, Orebro Police Chief Roberto Eid Forest emphasised that the priority now is to determine the attacker’s motivation.
“We worked intensely to ascertain whether there were others involved,” he said, yet declining to comment on whether the weapon used had a legal license. Regarding the suspected shooter’s death, Forest said he could not confirm that it was a suicide, evidence strongly suggests that it was. He urged the public to rely only on verified information. “Rumours and speculation create more distress,” he said.
Police had said earlier that no ideological motives had been identified. Early Wednesday, the Swedish government ordered flags to be flown at half-mast on state buildings and urged the public to follow suit.
The Swedish royal couple travels to Orebro later on Wednesday and will visit the school area. A memorial service will be held at the St Nicolai church, with the King and Queen in attendance, the Royal Palace announced.
The school shooting took place at noon on Tuesday at Risbergska Skolan, an education centre mainly for adults in Orebro, central Sweden. The shooter suspect is among the deceased, according to the police earlier.
Mats Knutson, a political analyst of Swedish Radio (SR), highlighted that the shooting occurred amid years of escalating armed violence in Sweden, with the past few months witnessing an unprecedented number of explosions, Xinhua news agency reported. Sweden is now in a crisis situation, and it is the government’s responsibility to unify the nation, Knutson said.
This was the first school shooting in Sweden since 1961. While there have been previous cases of fatal violence in schools, they were primarily carried out with knives, according to Swedish media.
IANS