One dead, several injured after sword attack at Swedish school

A man wielding a sword attacked a high school in Fagersta, Sweden, resulting in one death and three injuries. The incident occurred on Friday afternoon at Brinell high school, where the attacker, an 18-year-old, was shot and taken into custody on suspicion of murder. The attacker, reportedly a former student with a previous assault conviction, wore a helmet and wielded a sword.

The school, which had recently reopened after summer break, had about 450 students aged 16 to 20. Public broadcaster SVT reported that two victims were teenage boys with severe injuries, while a third was released from the hospital. Local officials opened a crisis center to provide support and information, and several schools and public buildings in Fagersta placed themselves in lockdown, which has since been lifted.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson described the attack as horrific and emphasized that the police were working intensively to investigate the incident. King Carl XVI Gustaf expressed his dismay and sadness over the attack, describing it as a horrific act. This event comes more than a year after a school shooting in Örebro, the worst mass shooting in Swedish history, and follows a similar incident in 2015, where a masked swordsman killed three individuals at a school in Trollhattan, claiming the attack was racially motivated.