Sweden reels from worst shooting in its history

OREBRO, Sweden — Sweden on Wednesday was recovering from the deadliest mass shooting in its history after 10 people — as well as the suspected gunman — were killed at an education center in the city of Orebro, with many questions still unanswered.

Several media reports said the suspected gunman turned his gun on himself, but police would not confirm those reports.

"Eleven people are dead, including the killer," police told AFP about Tuesday's massacre at Campus Risbergska, a secondary school for young adults.

Police did not comment on the number of wounded nor how serious those were, but the southern Orebro region said on Tuesday that six people suffering from gunshot wounds were taken to hospital.

"This is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history," Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told a news conference late on Tuesday.

Kristersson noted a lot of "questions were still unanswered".

"But there will come a time when we will know what happened, how it could happen and what motives may have been behind it," he said, urging people not to "speculate".

The motive for the shooting was not immediately known, Orebro police said in a statement, "but all the indications are that the perpetrator acted alone, without ideological motive".

Police have not disclosed any information about the identity or ages of the dead, nor whether they were students or teachers at the school.

"The perpetrator is not known to the police, he has no gang affiliations, we believe there will be no further attacks," Orebro police chief Roberto Eid Forest told reporters on Tuesday evening.

Meanwhile, Swedish television channel TV4 reported that police had raided the suspect's home in Orebro late on Tuesday afternoon.

It said the suspect was around 35 years old and had a license to carry a weapon and no criminal record, but did not provide any details about his identity.

The man lived reclusively, was unemployed, and had distanced himself from his family and friends, newspaper Aftonbladet reported, citing family members.

Panicking, crying

The shooting occurred around midday on Tuesday.

"I was standing there, watching what was happening, and I was just around here when I saw some bodies lying on the ground. I don't know if they were dead or injured," 16-year-old Linn, who goes to school near the site of the massacre, told Agence France-Presse.

"There was blood everywhere, people were panicking and crying, parents were worried ... it was chaos," she added.

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf said in a statement that he had received the news of the shooting with "sadness and dismay".

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the event as "truly horrifying".

"Such violence and terror have no place in our societies — least of all in schools. In this dark hour, we stand with the people of Sweden," she said in a post on X.

Agencies via Xinhua