Several wounded in sword attack at Swedish school; suspect in custody

STOCKHOLM – An attacker with a sword wounded several people on Aug 21 at a high school in central Sweden, the authorities said, while media reported the perpetrator had been shot by police.

“An assailant armed with a sword has entered Brinellskolan and wounded several people,” the Fagersta municipality said in a statement, adding the assailant had been detained by police.

According to the police, they received reports of the attack just after 2pm local time (8pm Singapore time).

The municipality did not specify the number of wounded but said in a statement that police were still searching the school and that several other schools in the area had been locked down.

A news conference was initially scheduled for 5pm but the municipality announced it was being postponed as “a rescue operation” in response to the incident was still ongoing.

The motive for the attack was not immediately clear.

Aftonbladet newspaper reported that at least two people had been wounded and that a person wielding a machete had been shot in the leg by police.

Public broadcaster SVT said ambulances, police cars and a police helicopter were outside the school – which has 447 students – in the small city of about 12,000 inhabitants.

In May, the municipality announced that students at Brinellskolan had been sent home following a threat to the school.

‘Serious incident’

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told AFP in a written statement that “a serious incident has taken place today at a school in Fagersta, just after the summer holidays”.

“There are reports of people being injured. We do not yet know what lies behind the attack, but we do know that the police are working extremely intensively,” Kristersson said.

Magdalena Andersson, leader of the opposition Social Democrats, lamented the “terrible news” from Fagersta, in a post on X.

“My thoughts are with those affected and everyone involved,” she said.

“When violence takes place at a school, I know it impacts everyone in our country. All of Sweden stands with Fagersta in this difficult time.”

Sweden has seen some high-profile attacks at educational institutions.

In February 2025, a 35-year-old man killed 10 people at an adult education centre in Orebro, Sweden’s worst mass shooting. Police said it was motivated by the killer’s wish to end his life because of financial and psychological woes.

In March 2022, an 18-year-old student fatally stabbed two teachers at a secondary school in the southern city of Malmo.

And in October 2015, three people were killed in a racially motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan by a sword-wielding assailant who was killed by police. AFP