Swedish authorities have remanded an 18-year-old suspect in custody on murder and attempted murder charges following a fatal attack at a school in Fagersta.
STOCKHOLM: Swedish prosecutors said Sunday that an 18-year-old man arrested during a fatal sword attack at a high school had been remanded in custody on charges of murder and attempted murder.
The alleged attacker entered the Brinell school in the small town of Fagersta on Friday afternoon, just days after its students had returned from summer break. He was shot and arrested by police at the scene.
“The 18-year-old man who was arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder in Fagersta on August 21 was remanded in custody on Sunday by the Vastmanland District Court, on probable cause suspected of the offences,” the Swedish prosecution authority said in a statement.
It added that the investigation was “in an early and intensive phase”.
Police on Saturday identified the one fatality in the attack as a 17-year-old girl.
Three boys were also wounded, two of them seriously.
The school was still cordoned off on Sunday, according to public broadcaster SVT.
Local police chief Tommy Alriksson told reporters on Friday that investigators were seeking a motive.
“We are looking into several leads… We are trying, of course, to remain as open-minded as possible,” Alriksson said.
SVT reported that the perpetrator had a previous assault conviction and wore a helmet and carried a sword — reminiscent of a 2015 school attack in the western town of Trollhattan in which a 21-year-old killed three people in a racially motivated attack.
Media reported a TikTok account belonging to the youth was being investigated. The account has been taken down.
AFP viewed the account before it was taken down and it had several videos referencing school attacks. The last update showed a photo of a sword.
On Saturday, officers had conducted around 80 interviews and were planning to question nearly all the school’s staff and students — almost 450 people — according to police chief Alriksson.
Two addresses linked to the attacker in Fagersta were also searched.
