STOCKHOLM: Five people were shot on Tuesday in an attack at a school for adults in Sweden, triggering a massive response by rescue services, police said.
“This is currently seen as attempted murder, arson and aggravated weapons offence,” police said in a statement, adding that the extent of the injuries of the five people who had been shot was not yet clear.
The shooting took place in Orebro, some 200 km (125 miles) west of Stockholm, at the Risbergska school for adults, located on a campus that also houses schools for children.
No police officers were injured in the shooting, the police said. Ambulances, rescue services and police were at the scene, a spokesperson for local rescue services said.
“We have received four patients but cannot say anything about the condition of the injured, but they were admitted to the emergency room at Orebro University Hospital,” an Orebro region spokesperson told Reuters.
Police said students were held indoors at the school that was targeted and at other schools nearby.
“The information about the violent attack in Orebro is extremely serious,” Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer told Reuters. “The government is in close contact with the police and is following developments closely.”
Sweden has been struggling with a wave of shootings and bombings springing out of an endemic gang crime problem, though fatal attacks at schools are still rare.
Ten people were killed in seven incidents of deadly violence at schools between 2010 and 2022 according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention. In one of the highest profile such crimes in the past decade, a 21-year old masked assailant driven by racist motives killed a teaching assistant and a boy while wounding two others in 2015.
