A 35-year-old man has been identified as the suspect shooter in Sweden’s worst mass shooting to date.
Rickard Andersson is suspected to be the man who opened fire using an automatic weapon on a campus in Örebo, a city which is located approximately 200km from Stockholm.
The death toll from the shooting, which took place at Campus Risbergska claimed the lives of 11 people including Andersson himself.
Six others were injured in the attack at the school which offered lessons in Swedish for migrants as well as those who did not complete standard education who are over the age of 20 years.
A video broadcast by Sweden’s TV4 media outlet was recorded during the gun attack from a school toilet in which the words “away from Europe!” are heard, although it is yet to be established whether these words came from the gunman.
Police who responded to reports of the incident said they were “met by an inferno”, local media outlet Aftonbladet reports.
Police investigator Anna Bergkwist said that the suspect had taken his own life at the scene.
130 police officers were deployed to the scene of the shooting last Tuesday where it is reported that the victims were from a range of different nationalities.
Police chief Lars Wirén said that the force arrived at the scene within 5 minutes of the alarm being raised at 12:33pm, but were met by chaotic scenes of smoke and people running around screaming.
Police say Andersson approached them and opened fire meaning that they were not able to enter the school until the regional task force entered.
The school was littered with ten empty magazines of ammunition which Andersson had used in the weapons for which he was a licence holder.
His body was found by police lying next to three firearms and a substantial amount of unused ammunition.
An eye witness told Swedish news, “There was blood everywhere.”
The Syrian embassy in Sweden has said that Syrian refugees are among the dead.
Two Bosnian nationals are also reported to have been victims of the attack.
Yesterday Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson laid flowers in tribute to the victims of the shooting.
“Sweden mourns the victims of the school attack in Örebro yesterday.” the said, adding, “The empathy and kindness shown by people here in Sweden and across the globe will help us through this dark period. Thank you all.”
