Emergency personnel and police officers work at the adult education centre Campus Risbergska school after a shooting attack in Orebro, Sweden, February 4, 2025. Picture: TT News Agency, Kicki Nilsson via Reuters
By Johan Ahlander and Anna Ringstrom
OREBRO, Sweden - Swedish police said on Wednesday there was no evidence of "ideological motives" behind a mass shooting at an adult education centre on Tuesday, and warned of misinformation spread on social media about the Nordic country's deadliest gun attack.
At least 11 people died and many others were wounded in the shooting at the Risbergska school in Orebro, a town of over 100,000 people, where large numbers of police continued to cordon off the centre and several schools located on its campus complex.
A vigil with candles and flowers had been set up nearby.
"We want to be clear that based on investigative and intelligence information at present, there is no information pointing to the culprit acting on ideological motives," police said in a brief statement on its website.
Police have said the motive for the crime was not immediately known, and that they believed the suspected perpetrator, who was among the dead and was not known previously to the police, acted alone.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on Tuesday said the attack was the worst mass shooting in Swedish history, calling it a "painful day", while King Carl XVI Gustav conveyed his condolences.
Flags at official buildings in Orebro, some 200km (125 miles) west of Stockholm, as well as at the Swedish parliament and the royal palace in the capital, were flying at half-mast as a sign of respect and mourning.
"Our task is to take care of those attending the affected school, those who work there as well as inhabitants of Orebro who are worried and sad," Orebro Municipal Director Peter Larsson said in a statement.
Many students in Sweden's adult school system are immigrants seeking to improve their basic education and gain degrees to help them find jobs in the Nordic country while also learning Swedish.
Police said in a statement it did not see any general threat against schools or pre-schools in the country, nor against adult education schools, including Swedish classes for immigrants.
"We also at present don't see any danger to the public, even if we understand that the incident raises concerns and many questions," it said.
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.
- REUTERS