35-year-old Rickard Andersson, gunned down 10 people at a school in Sweden before taking his own life. Video / AFP
Rickard Andersson, 35, killed 10 people at a school in Sweden before taking his own life.
Police are investigating the motive, saying there were no immediate signs of any ideological motivation.
Six victims remain hospitalised, with three in stable but serious condition.
The gunman who killed 10 people at a school in Sweden was a reclusive, unemployed man who legally owned firearms and had no criminal record, according to reports.
The 35-year-old, who died at the scene from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, had distanced himself from family and friends in recent years, relatives said as details about him began to emerge.
Police raided his home in Örebro following the shooting at Campus Risbergska on the outskirts of the city, TV4 television reported.
Sweden's Queen Silvia and King Carl XVI Gustaf, followed by Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson with his wife Birgitta Ed, arrived to place flowers outside the school the day after the shooting. Photo / AFP
Roberto Eid Forest, the Örebro police chief, confirmed that evidence suggested the gunman took his own life and was already dead when officers arrived at the scene.
Andersson reportedly changed into a military uniform in the school’s bathroom before he opened fire.
One police theory is that he deliberately spared some people while targeting others, although his reasons for doing so remain unclear, according to Aftonbladet, a Swedish newspaper.
Students at the school described scenes of chaos, with people running through corridors while the gunman calmly walked around and fired his weapon.
Rickard Andersson reportedly changed into a military uniform in the school’s bathroom before he opened fire. Photo / Orebro Police via Getty Images
A student called Marwa told TV4: “A guy next to me was shot in the shoulder. He was bleeding a lot. When I looked behind me I saw three people on the floor bleeding.
“Everyone was shocked. They said: ‘Go out, get out’.
“I took my friend’s shawl and tied it tightly around his shoulder so that he wouldn’t bleed so much.”
Maria Pegado, 54, a teacher at the school, said someone threw open the door to her classroom just after a lunch break and shouted to everyone to get out. She and her students then ran out of the school to safety.
Police are yet to establish a motive for the attack and said there were no immediate signs of any ideological motivation.
Six victims remained at Örebro University Hospital on Wednesday, with five having undergone surgery for gunshot wounds.
Three women and two men were in a “stable but serious” condition, while another woman was being treated for minor injuries, health officials said.
Ulf Kristersson, the Swedish Prime Minister, told a press conference: “This is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history.
“There will come a time when we will know what happened, how it could happen and what motives may have been behind it.”
Lars Wiren, the area police chief, said the suspect “was obviously motivated and had access to firearms”.
Earlier reports claimed shots were fired at police officers at the scene, though no law enforcement personnel were injured.
Police raided the suspect’s apartment on Wednesday before his name was released by Swedish media.
Daniel Soleimani, who lives below Andersson’s flat, told the Telegraph that his girlfriend called him while he was out, her voice shaking, saying police were banging on their door.
Worried, he contacted the police, who confirmed it was them and advised him not to enter the building – making him even more anxious.
He said: “I could never believe I had this guy possibly living a few metres above me all that time. It’s quite scary and daunting.
“I would never expect something like this to happen, or this kind of person living here, and I have been living here for eight years.”
Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia have visited the school and will attend a memorial service.
“A grieving process is hard to do alone,” the monarch told reporters after laying white flowers at a memorial site near the school.
He added: “I think all of Sweden feels it has experienced this traumatic event.”
Kristersson joined the royal couple on their trip to Örebro, a city of more than 100,000 people about 200km west of Stockholm.
The royal court announced that flags would fly at half-mast at all royal palaces, with Government offices and Parliament also following suit.
While school attacks are rare in Sweden, the country has experienced several violent incidents in recent years, including two knife attacks at schools in 2022.
The nation has also been grappling with gang-related shootings and bombings that have claimed dozens of lives annually.
Residents gathered near the school on Wednesday to leave flowers for the victims.
“Those who were killed yesterday had dreams of becoming a doctor, nurse, engineer, electrician or plumber, but now they can’t, sadly,” said Shamsul Qamar Andesh, a former student of the school.
He added: “It makes me feel very bad and very sad … I never imagined something like this could happen in our city or at that school.”
Iuri Baptista, a Brazilian PhD student at Örebro University, was among those lighting candles in memory of those who died.
He told the Telegraph: “Those who were in this attack are the students like me, so I care. It feels like the attack is about me as well. It’s a personal attack in some sense.
“It could be me, especially if it was a hate attack. This should have a big meaning.”
Baptista said he was disappointed that the police were slow to establish a motive and thought the attack might have been “politically motivated”.
He added: “I understand that the police have to do the investigations, but it’s very upsetting that it takes so long to know who did it and if there was any motivation behind it because it makes people wonder.”
