At least 10 people have been killed at an adult school in western Sweden in what the prime minister described as the deadliest shooting attack in the Nordic nation’s history.
The mass shooting occurred at an adult education centre in the city of Orebro on Tuesday at 12:33pm local (11:33 GMT) with police initially reporting at least five people were shot.
In an update hours later, police said about 10 people had been killed in the attack at the Risbergska School without providing a definitive number. The victims were not immediately identified.
“We know that 10 or so people have been killed here today. The reason that we can’t be more exact currently is that the extent of the incident is so large,” local police chief Roberto Eid Forest told reporters.
A hospital spokesperson said out of five patients admitted at the Orebro University Hospital, one sustained light injuries while four were operated on. Two were out of surgery and stable while one had serious wounds.
Police said the attacker was believed to be among those killed. They said no further attacks were expected, adding there was currently no suspected connection to “terrorism” but a motive was not clear.
Forest said police believed the gunman acted alone, and he had not been previously known to police.
Police earlier in a statement said the incident was being “seen as attempted murder, arson and aggravated weapons offence”.
Maria Pegado, 54, a teacher at the school, said someone threw open the door to her classroom just after lunch break and shouted to everyone to get out.
“I took all my 15 students out into the hallway and we started running. Then I heard two shots but we made it out. We were close to the school entrance. I saw people dragging injured out, first one, then another. I realised it was very serious,” she said.
Andreas Sundling, 28, spoke to the Expressen newspaper while sheltering in a classroom. “We heard three bangs and loud screams,” he said.
“Now, we’re sitting here waiting to be evacuated from the school. The information we have received is that we should sit and wait.”
In a statement on X, Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said his “thoughts are with those who have been affected and their relatives”.
“My thoughts are also with all those whose normal school day was replaced with terror,” he said. “Being confined to a classroom with fear for your own life is a nightmare that no one should have to experience.”
Speaking later to reporters, Kistersson called the attack “the worst mass shooting in Swedish history”.
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf said he had received the news of the shooting with “sadness and dismay.”
“Tonight we send our condolences to the families and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts at this time are also with the injured and their families, as well as others affected,” the king said in a statement published by the palace.
The centre where the attack occurred is located 200km (125 miles) west of Stockholm, on the outskirts of Orebro.
Sweden has been struggling with a wave of shootings and bombings caused by an endemic gang crime problem but fatal attacks at schools are 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.
While school attacks have been rare in Sweden, there have been several serious incidents in recent years.
In March 2022, an 18-year-old student fatally stabbed two teachers at a high school in the southern city of Malmo.
Two months earlier, a 16-year-old was arrested after wounding another student and a teacher with a knife at a school in the small town of Kristianstad.
In October 2015, three people were killed in a racially motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan by a sword-wielding attacker.
