Sword attack at Swedish school kills one, wounds three

An 18-year-old former student armed with a sword attacked a high school in central Sweden on Friday, killing one person and wounding three others before police shot and detained him.

The attack happened at Brinell High School in Fagersta, a town of roughly 13,000 people northwest of Stockholm. It came just after the school reopened from summer break, local police said.

Police spokesperson Pelle Vamstad told Swedish news agency TT that officers were called shortly after midday. They set up a wide security perimeter around the school. Several nearby schools went into lockdown and roadblocks went up while police responded, the Associated Press reported.

Local police chief Tommy Alriksson said officers reached the school quickly. The school has 450 students aged 16 to 20. "The first patrol entered and let us know that the perpetrator was subdued with gunfire," Alriksson told a press conference. "We have no reason at this time to believe that there are multiple perpetrators."

The suspect was arrested on suspicion of murder. Public broadcaster SVT reported that the attacker wore a helmet and carried a sword and had a previous assault conviction.

Two teenage boys between 12 and 17 years old suffered severe injuries, the local health authority said. A third injured person was released from hospital.

Students described the scene. "First it was just a regular day really," one student said. "Then I saw a guy all covered in blood, at least down his back anyway. Then I saw the police, and they flooded in."

Another student said he saw a victim with a bloody stab wound in the arm. "Then people called the police, and we just all ran from there because we were afraid."

Police are investigating a TikTok account that posted a picture of a sword roughly 20 minutes before the attack, according to Dagens Nyheter. The photo appeared to be taken in a school restroom. Before the month-old account was taken down, it contained videos referencing two earlier episodes of mass violence in Sweden and Norwegian far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson offered condolences in a post on X. "Today, a horrific act took place at Brinellskolan in Fagersta," he wrote. "Once again, an attack on a school that shakes both the local community and our entire country."

King Carl XVI Gustaf said he received the news "with dismay and sadness," according to a statement from the royal household.

Fagersta Mayor Asa-Marta Sjostrom said the small town was shaken. "Our and the school's main focus right now is to take care of our students and our employees," she told reporters.

Sweden's worst mass shooting happened in February 2025, when a gunman killed 10 people at a school in the south-central city of Örebro before shooting himself.