One Killed, Three Injured as 18-Year-Old Attacks Swedish School With Sword

TT News Agency

Emergency services at the school in Fagersta following the sword attack.

An 18-year-old man armed with a sword attacked students at a Swedish high school on Friday, killing one person and injuring three others before police shot and detained him. Swedish media reported that the suspect was a former student at the school.

The attack took place on Friday afternoon at Brinell High School in Fagersta, a central Swedish town with a population of around 13,000. The school had recently reopened following the summer holiday, with the incident occurring on the first day back for some students.

Police said at a press conference that the suspect, an 18-year-old man, was shot by officers and taken into custody on suspicion of murder.

Swedish public broadcaster SVT, citing unnamed sources, reported that the attacker was wearing a helmet and carrying a sword and was a former student at the school. The broadcaster also reported that he had a previous conviction for assault.

The local health authority said two of the victims were teenage boys who sustained severe injuries, while a third injured person was treated and later discharged from hospital.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson cancelled a speech scheduled for Saturday, news agency TT reported.

"Our thoughts are with all those affected," he wrote in a post on social media platform X.

Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf said in the statement released by the royal household that he received news of the attack "with dismay and sadness."

According to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, police were investigating a TikTok account in connection with Friday’s school attack after it posted a picture of a sword around 20 minutes before the incident.

Dagens Nyheter reported that details in the background suggested the photograph may have been taken in a restroom at the school.

The month-old account was removed on Friday. Before it was taken down, it reportedly contained videos referring to two previous incidents of mass violence in Sweden, as well as Norwegian far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

Sweden’s deadliest school shooting took place in February 2025 at a school in the south-central city of Örebro, when a gunman killed 10 people before taking his own life.

In 2015, a masked attacker armed with a sword killed a teaching assistant and two pupils at a school in Trollhättan, western Sweden, before being shot dead by police. Authorities later said the attack was racially motivated.



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