A masked man armed with a sword has killed a pupil and a teacher at a school in Sweden.
The attack took place on Thursday morning at the school, around 75km from Gothenburg, after a man wearing a mask walked into a building on the premises wielding “several knife-like objects”, police said.
One teacher, Lavin Eskandar, died following the incident along with a pupil, Ahmed Hassan, reported to have been aged 11.
A 21-year-old suspect was confirmed dead just after 4pm, with officials adding that they did not think that anyone else was involved. Another teacher and an older pupil are understood to remain in hospital.
“The assailant knocked on two classroom doors and he attacked the two students who opened the doors,” police investigator Thord Haraldsson told a press conference in Trollhättan.
He said that officers called to the scene had fired two shots, with one of them hitting the assailant, after the suspect had first attempted to attack the police.
Haraldsson said if the police hadn’t reacted as quickly as they did, the situation could have been much worse. Pre-school children had been visiting the school’s library earlier in the day.
Some pupils have described how they initially thought the man’s appearance was a prank.
“When we first saw him, we thought it was a joke. He was wearing a mask and black clothes and (carrying) a long sword. Some students wanted to take their picture with him and feel the sword,” one unidentified pupil told TT.
A picture reported to be of the alleged attacker was circulating in Swedish media on Thursday afternoon.
Several news outlets said the 21-year-old had a YouTube account where he posted material glorifying Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany, and was critical of Islam and immigration.
Haraldsson confirmed during the press conference that reports the suspect had far-right beliefs were part of the investigation, but said he did not want to comment further.
4 Comments
Inna lilahi wa inna ilaihi rajioon.
May Allah grant us all a deeper undertstanding in tragedies like these. Followed by certainty in His decree, allowing us to move forward with a settled soul. Amin
The first thing that struck me after reading the article was that I didn’t read anything related to Islam except “…and it was critical of Islam and immigration.” May Allah forgive me if I’m wrong, but I sincerely feel that unless it was a religiously motivated act of violence, terms such as “Islamophobe” or even “racist (yes, I understand this was not mentioned in this piece)” should not be used. What if this attack was not on Islam? Yet, the article ties him directly to Islam. I felt uncomfortable afterwards because this type of headline, when used to document a tragedy, is the same tool used to oppress our ummah. An example was there Chattanooga shooting. Right away the news declared “Muslim shooter,” but the shooting was not religiously motivated. That offended all these Muslims. Subhan Allah.
The second thing that struck me was the account given of his description and children wanting to take pictures and touch his sword. Astaghfirullah but what? Exactly how long was this man there? Exactly what did the front office administration do to clear a sword wielding, masked man in all black?
Jazakallah khair.
Forgive my spelling errors. When I type “the,” my phone changes it to “these” or “there.” I don’t always catch it.
Bismillah
A correction have been made in swedish media. The 11yo boy (Ahmad Hassan) was actually 17.
Still 3 dead so far (Murderer included).
To Ukhti
Well the swedish police have deemed it a hate crime (confirmed).
Now i usually distinguish between racism and hating Islam, since its not a race. But alot of people dont, and in this case it is pretty clear actually that the target was muslims.
*Roughly translated* “His activity on social media showed an interest for Nazi germany and a critical attitude towards Islam. That the motive is racist was confirmed by the police the morning after”
because of several reasons, one of which was “his targeting”, he went by and even talked to some “lightskinned persons”.
Another was his social media usage, where he for example liked a video on youtube titled “10 Crazy Qur’an qoutes”.
Also a deathnote have been found at his home, but the police havent publicized what it says yet.
Yes students wanted to take pictures, you can see the pic at the top wherein he poses with two students (students are censored), bear in mind that we are close to halloween and the new star wars-movie being released (he was dressed in a darth vader kind of way as you can see).
Can you please edit in Rahimahomaallah