About 10 people have been killed in a shooting incident at a school in the Swedish city of Örebro.
Addressing the press, the local police chief, Roberto Eid Forest, revealed that the alleged perpetrator is believed to be among the dead.
The shooting which the police doubt was a terror attack happened around midday at an adult education centre in Örebro, about 160 kilometres west of Stockholm.
According to Eid Forest, the suspected perpetrator, who is a man had not previously been known to police and is thought to have acted alone.
In an interview with broadcaster SVT radio, school principal Ingela Bäck Gustafsson said she had been on her lunch break when students ran past her shouting that everyone should leave the school grounds.
“When I got to the playground, I heard shots, very close by,” Bäck Gustafsson added. “We ran for our lives.”
Numerous police officers and emergency responders were deployed to the school at the Risbergska campus, with students and staff being cared for at the school, as well as at neighbouring schools and shops.
Reportedly, heavily armed police forces were seen at a residential address in Örebro in the afternoon at what could be the home of the alleged perpetrator.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson expressed shock and extended his condolences to the victim’s families in a post on X, calling it a very painful day for all of Sweden.
“No one should have to experience the nightmare of sitting in a classroom and fearing for their lives,” he said.
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