2 female teachers killed at high school in Sweden, student arrested
Two teachers were killed by a student at a high school in southern Sweden, police said Tuesday. The student, 18, was arrested at the scene on Monday in Malmo, Sweden's third-largest city. The victims were two female teachers in their 50s, police said.
The suspect wasn't previously known to the police and had no criminal record and police didn't disclose how the teachers were killed. A motive hasn't been established.
"For now it is far too early to comment on that," Malmo Police Chief Petra Stenkula told a news conference.
She said officers arrived and found the suspect and two victims on the third floor of the downtown Malmo Latin School 10 minutes after they were alerted, adding that the situation was then "under control."
Stenkula didn't confirm a report by the Aftonbladet newspaper, saying the male student himself called authorities to say he had killed two people, had put down his weapons and was on the third floor.
Agence France-Presse, citing Swedish media, said the suspect was armed with a knife and an axe.
After initial reports of screaming in the school, "we have had more information that pointed to a serious crime being committed and that violence was occurring in the school," police spokesman Nils Norling told AFP.
"The first police patrol on site was able to arrive at the school and arrest a male suspect. They were also able to see that there were two injured people inside the school," he said, speaking in front of the building.
Police made "seizures" and a forensic examination "will allow us to better understand what happened," Chief Stenkula said, adding authorities they "have no information" that there were more injured.
Police said they were called at 5:12 p.m. Monday. Scores of ambulances and patrol cars rushed to the school and armed police were seen entering the building, which was cordoned off.
Students at the school, which has about 1,100 students, had gathered to work on a musical and students locked them inside classrooms.
Sweden's Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said she reacted "with sadness and dismay" to the killings, according to the Swedish news agency TT.
"Now the police and prosecutors will find out what happened, so that the person behind this is held accountable for their actions," Andersson said, according to Swedish newspaper Göteborgs-Posten,
All classes were suspended Tuesday and school was closed, Malmo Latin School wrote on its website.
The killings took place in a modern annex of the school, which was founded in 1406 when the pope issued a letter of privilege allowing for its construction and operation. It was originally meant to educate local youth on Christian doctrine and the Latin language.
In January, a 16-year-old boy was arrested after wounding a student and a teacher in the town of Kristianstad, also in southern Sweden, AFP reported. The case had been linked to a similar attack in August in the town of Eslov, around 30 miles away, when a student attacked a 45-year-old school worker.