A sword-wielding masked man who students thought was playing a Halloween prank stabbbed four people at a school with a large immigrant community in southern Sweden on Thursday, killing a teacher and a student before being shot dead by police.
The 21-year-old assailant, who posed with students before beginning his deadly rampage, roamed the halls of the Kronan school in the industrial town of Trollhatan, knocking on the doors of two classrooms and slashing those who opened them, authorities said.
The identity of the assailant was not released, although a police investigator, Thord Haraldsson, told reporters that a racist motive was “part of the picture.” He did not elaborate.
The attack stunned Sweden, where violent crime is relatively rare, although there has been a recent spate of arson attacks on asylum centers in the south of the country as the influx of migrants has surged. Immigration officials estimate that 190,000 will arrive this year, second only to Germany in western Europe.
“This is a black day for Sweden,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said of the attack, the deadliest ever to target a school in Sweden. “It is a tragedy that hits the entire country.”
Laith Alazze, a 14-year-old student, said that at first he thought the attacker — who was clad in black and wearing a helmet that masked his eyes — had something to do with Halloween.
“One of my friends walked over to him to challenge him, but when we saw he stabbed (the teacher), we ran away,” Laith told Sweden’s TV4.
