Pupil arrested after two teachers killed at Swedish high school
22 March 2022, 10:44
The 18-year-old suspect was not previously known to police.
Two teachers have been killed by a pupil at a high school in southern Sweden, police said.
The 18-year-old suspect was arrested at the scene on Monday in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city.
The victims were two female teachers in their 50s, police said.
The suspect was not previously known to the police and had no criminal record, and officers did not disclose how the teachers were killed. A motive has yet to be established.
“For now it is far too early to comment on that,” Malmo police chief Petra Stenkula told a news conference.
She said officers arrived and found the suspect and two victims on the third floor of the Malmo Latin School 10 minutes after they were alerted, adding that the situation was then “under control”.
Ms Stenkula did not confirm a report by the Aftonbladet newspaper, saying the male student himself called authorities to say he had killed two people, had put down his weapons and was on the third floor.
Police made “seizures” and a forensic examination “will allow us to better understand what happened”, Ms Stenkula said, adding authorities they “have no information” that there were more injured.
Police said they were called at 5.12pm on Monday.
Scores of ambulances and patrol cars rushed to the school and armed police were seen entering the building, which was cordoned off.
Pupils at the school, which has about 1,100 students, had gathered to work on a musical.
Students locked themselves inside classrooms during the incident.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said she reacted “with sadness and dismay” over the killings, according to the Swedish news agency TT.
All classes were suspended on Tuesday and school was closed, Malmo Latin School wrote on its website.
The killings took place in a modern annex of the school, which was founded in 1406 when the pope issued a letter of privilege allowing for its construction and operation.
It was originally meant to educate local youth on Christian doctrine and the Latin language.
