Student is arrested after 2 teachers are killed at a Swedish high school
Two teachers were killed by a student at a high school in southern Sweden, police said Tuesday.
The 18-year-old student was arrested at the scene Monday in Malmo, Sweden’s third-largest city. The victims were two women in their 50s, police said.
The suspect wasn’t previously known to the police and had no criminal record, and police didn’t disclose how the teachers were killed. A motive hasn’t been established.
“For now it is far too early to comment on that,” Malmo Police Chief Petra Stenkula told a news conference.
She said officers had arrived at the downtown Malmo Latin School 10 minutes after they were alerted and found the suspect and two victims on the third floor. Stenkula said the situation was then “under control.”
Stenkula didn’t confirm a report by the Aftonbladet newspaper that said the male student called authorities himself to say he had killed two people, had put down his weapons and was on the third floor.
U.S. school systems rely on expertise from the U.S. Secret Service and others as they work to stay vigilant for signs of potential student violence.
Police made “seizures” and a forensic examination “will allow us to better understand what happened,” Stenkula said, adding that authorities had no information of any further injuries.
Police said they were called at 5:12 p.m. Monday. Scores of ambulances and patrol cars rushed to the school, and armed police were seen entering the building, which was cordoned off.
Students at the school, which has about 1,100 students, had gathered to work on a musical, and students locked themselves inside classrooms.
Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson expressed “sadness and dismay” over the killings, according to the Swedish news agency TT.
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All classes were suspended Tuesday, and the school was closed.
The killings took place in a modern annex of the school, which was founded in 1406 when the pope issued a letter of privilege allowing for its construction and operation. It was originally meant to educate local youth in Christian doctrine and the Latin language.
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