Sword attack in Sweden that killed 1 prompts probe into social media
Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man who attacked students at a high school with a sword on Friday, killing one, was involved in online communities promoting school violence, a police source said. The attacker struck at a school in the central Swedish town of Fagersta, also severely injuring two teenage boys before being arrested by police. The parents of a 17-year-old girl…
On Friday, an 18-year-old man attacked students at a high school in Fagersta, a central Swedish town, with a sword, resulting in one death and two severe injuries. The attacker was subsequently arrested by the police. The parents of the victim's 17-year-old daughter informed local newspaper Fagersta-Posten of their daughter's death in the incident.
According to a police source, investigators are probing whether the suspect was involved in online communities that encouraged school violence. A TikTok account, which posted a picture of a sword 20 minutes before the assault, is under scrutiny. The image, believed to have been taken at the school's restroom, appeared in a month-old account that also referenced two episodes of mass violence in Sweden and the 2015 Norwegian far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.
The police are investigating potential connections between the suspect and such online communities that may have incited him to carry out the attack. Political party leaders have suspended their campaigning to focus on the tragedy. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and opposition leader Magdalena Andersson paid their respects to the grieving family and visited the injured at Fagersta.
Kristersson expressed deep sorrow, saying, "What should never happen has happened again. Our thoughts go first and foremost to the families who have been incredibly hard hit by this."
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