At least 10 people have been killed at an adult school in western Sweden in what the prime minister described as the deadliest shooting attack in the Nordic nation’s history.
The mass shooting occurred at an adult education centre in the city of Orebro on Tuesday at 12:33 pm local (11:33 GMT), with police initially reporting at least five people were shot.
In an update hours later, police said about 10 people had been killed in the attack at the Risbergska School without providing a definitive number. The victims were not immediately identified.
A hospital spokesperson said out of five patients admitted at the Orebro University Hospital, one sustained light injuries while four were operated on. Two were out of surgery and stable, while one had serious wounds.
Police said the attacker was believed to be among those killed. They said no further attacks were expected, adding there was currently no suspected connection to “terrorism,” but a motive was not clear.
Forest said police believed the gunman acted alone, and he had not been previously known to police.
The centre where the attack occurred is located 200 km (125 miles) west of Stockholm, on the outskirts of Orebro.
Sweden has been struggling with a wave of shootings and bombings caused by an endemic gang crime problem, but 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.
While school attacks have been rare in Sweden, there have been several serious incidents in recent years.
In March 2022, an 18-year-old student fatally stabbed two teachers at a high school in the southern city of Malmo.
Two months earlier, a 16-year-old was arrested after wounding another student and a teacher with a knife at a school in the small town of Kristianstad.
In October 2015, three people were killed in a racially motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan by a sword-wielding attacker.