Sweden school shooting latest: Suspect shot himself after killing 10 people police believe as motive investigated

The suspected gunman in a deadly school shooting in Sweden shot himself after killing 10 people on Tuesday, police believe.
Armed police exchanged fire with an unnamed shooter at Risbergska School in Örebro, 125 miles west of Stockholm, in what Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson has described as the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.
Police said in a Wednesday morning press conference that there is much evidence to suggest the attacker shot himself, as desperate students and teachers hid under tables and barricaded doors.
The suspect is believed to have acted alone in the shooting, local police chief Roberto Eid Forest told reporters on Wednesday.
The King and Queen of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf and Sylvia, visited the site of the shooting on Wednesday afternoon to pay their respects to the victims.
Maria Pegado, 54, a teacher at the school, described hearing shots as she escaped. “I heard two shots but we made it out. We were close to the school entrance. I saw people dragging injured out, first one, then another. I realised it was very serious.”
Six people remain in hospital, including five with gunshot wounds and two in intensive care, local health authorities confirmed.
‘What happened to beautiful Sweden?’ asks Queen Sylvia
Speaking to the media during their visit to the Campus Risbergska, where 11 people died yesterday, Queen Sylvia expressed her devastation.
“Of course, we are thinking of family members and everyone who has died now and I wonder… what happened to the beautiful Sweden?” she said to reporters, according to Expressen.
“I have a great wish for all the Swedish people to help and build it up again. Strengthen Sweden’s good name and everything that means to be Swedish.
“That’s what I wish now. A lot has happened lately and it is my great wish and the King’s that we all together build up the fine Sweden that has been.”
Alex Croft5 February 2025 13:40
Kins wait outside hospital searching for friends among casualties
Family members of potential victims waited outside the Orebro University Hospital overnight.
Ali Elmokad was looking for his relative, unsure whether he was among the injured or the dead.
“We’ve been trying to get hold of him all day, we haven’t been successful,” he said, adding that he had a friend who also attended the school.
“What she saw was so terrible. She only saw people lying on the floor, injured and blood everywhere.”

Alex Croft5 February 2025 13:25
Swedish King and Queen visit site of shooting in Örebro
The King and Queen of Sweden have arrived in Örebro, to visit the site of Tuesday’s devastating shooting.
Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife, Queen Silvia, will later attend a memorial service in St. Nicolai Church in the centre of the city.


Alex Croft5 February 2025 13:14
Watch live: Swedish royals and prime minster visit school shooting scene
Alex Croft5 February 2025 13:10
Wave of shootings and bombings in Sweden in recent years
Sweden has been struggling with a wave of shootings and bombings caused by an endemic gang crime problem that has seen the country of 10 million people record by far the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the EU in recent years.
However, 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.
Sweden has a high level of gun ownership by European standards, mainly linked to hunting, though it is much lower than in the United States, while the gang crime wave has highlighted the high incidence of illegal weapons.
In one of the highest-profile crimes of the past decade, a 21-year-old masked assailant driven by racist motives killed a teaching assistant and a boy and wounded two others in 2015.
In 2017, a man driving a truck mowed down shoppers on a busy street in central Stockholm before crashing into a department store. Five people died in that attack.
Alex Ross5 February 2025 12:56
Black armbands and minute’s silence to be held Swedish football match
Football teams Degerfors IF and Orebro Syrianska will wear black armbands at a friendly match on Wednesday evening.
The teams will also hold a minute’s silence before the match to “honour the victims of the terrible attack in Örebro”, Degerfors IF announced.
“Our thoughts are with those affected and their families,” said the club, which plays in the highest tier of Swedish football.
Alex Croft5 February 2025 12:41
Pictured: Suspect’s apartment stormed by police after shooting


Alex Croft5 February 2025 12:26
Who was the Sweden school shooting suspect who killed 10 people?
Terrified students scrambled for cover under the desk and some even barricaded themselves in classrooms. The suspected perpetrator was later found with a gunshot wound, police said.
What do we know about the suspect behind the Sweden school shooting?
Alex Croft5 February 2025 12:10
Örebro Mosque opens for extra hours to support community
Örebro Mosque opened for extra hours on Tuesday and Wednesday to support the the local community, Expressen reported.
“We open for the grieving and the worried. They have big questions that we can’t answer, but we can be there. Right now, all we can do is grieve, that’s all we can do at the moment,” the mosque’s chairman Yusuf Abdow told the Swedish outlet.
“People in the mosque, like all of Örebro, feel that it must not happen. That it is a nightmare. It is not just relatives, everyone is shaken.”
Alex Croft5 February 2025 11:52
Prime minister to visit Örebro on Wednesday
Swedish prime minister Ulf Kristersson and minister of justice Gunnar Strömmer will visit Örebro on Wednesday, according to Expressen.
It comes after the royal court confirmed that King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife, Queen Silvia, will also visit the central Swedish city.
The royals will visit the area where the shooting took place, before attending a memorial service in St. Nicolai Church in the centre of the city.
Alex Croft5 February 2025 11:36