Sweden school shooting latest: King and Queen lead country in mourning as more details about suspect emerge – UK Times

Six police officers were treated for smoke inhalation following the shooting.

Authorities are investigating whether arson was involved but will not yet confirm where the smoke came from.

The fire alarm was triggered, and police believe there was no regular fire.

Eleven people are dead after a rampaging gunman opened fire at an adult education centre in central Sweden, in what is believed to be the country’s worst ever mass shooting.

The suspect has been named in Swedish media as 35-year-old recluse Rickard Andersson, described by relatives as a “loner” who “doesn’t seem to like people”.

Here is how the attack unfolded:

Football teams Degerfors IF and Orebro Syrianska wore black armbands at a friendly match on Wednesday evening.

The teams also held a minute’s silence before the match to honour the victims of the terrible attack in Örebro, Degerfors IF announced.

“Our thoughts are with those affected and their families,” said the club, which plays in the highest tier of Swedish football.

The gunman behind Sweden’s worst-ever shooting has been named by Swedish media as 35-year-old Rickard Andersson.

After massacring 10 people at Risbergska School in Orebro, police believe the attacker turned the gun on himself.

Andersson was described by relatives as a “loner” who “doesn’t seem to like people”, Swedish outlet Aftonbladet reported. He suffered with mental health problems, had a licence for multiple hunting rifles, and had repeatedly been refused military service, the outlet added.

Sweden has been struggling with a wave of shootings and bombings caused by an endemic gang crime problem that has led to the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the EU in recent years in the country of 10 million people.

However, 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.

Sweden has a high level of gun ownership by European standards, mainly linked to hunting, though it is much lower than in the United States, while the gang crime wave has highlighted the high incidence of illegal weapons.

In one of the highest-profile crimes of the past decade, a 21-year-old masked assailant driven by racist motives killed a teaching assistant and a boy and wounded two others in 2015.

In 2017, a man driving a truck mowed down shoppers on a busy street in central Stockholm before crashing into a department store. Five people died in that attack.

A person who went to the same school as Rickard Andersson while growing up told TV4 Nyheterna he was a loner.

“He was very quiet and kept to himself most of the time. It wasn’t noticeable much when he was little, but the older he got, the more he withdrew,” they said.

“In his last year he was often at home. I think he then completely disappeared from school.”

Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson, who joined the king and queen in visiting Orebro, said: “February 4 will for ever mark a dark day in Swedish history.

“We are a country in mourning and we must all come together.”

He wrote on social media: “The empathy and kindness shown by people here in Sweden and across the globe will help us through this dark period.”

The gun murders suspect had Asperger’s and high-functioning autism, and had major problems at school, according to Sweden’s TV4.

“From the spring semester of grade eight and throughout grade nine, he failed all subjects. He was therefore not eligible for upper secondary school and had to follow an individual program,” the channel reported.

“Rickard Andersson studied at Wadköping Education Center in Örebro. There he attended a special class for people with Asperger’s and high-functioning autism, and he received mixed grades.

“He passed in aesthetic activities and history, but failed in all other subjects.

“Rickard Andersson also did not do military service, as his lack of high school grades meant that he was never called up for military service.”