Violent School Attack Claims Life Of Two Teachers In Sweden
A violent school attack in Sweden claims the life of two teachers causing concern as school attacks are on the rise in the Scandinavian country.
While reports of deadly school attacks usually occur in the United States, America is not the only country that suffers such violence. The nation of Sweden is mourning the death of two teachers in the southern city of Malmo, the country’s third-largest city. Unlike the United States, the European country is not so accustomed to violent attacks in schools, but the recent tragedy has rattled the nation as this incident marks the most recent of multiple school attacks in the last year.
The two yet-to-be-named female teachers from Sweden were both in their 50s. They taught at Malmo Latin, a creative arts secondary school that educates over one thousand students. As police arrived on the scene at the school minutes after the attack was reported, authorities entered the school to find the two victims lying on the floor. The teachers were taken to the hospital for treatment, but their deaths were announced later that evening.
The alleged suspect, an 18-year-old male, was quickly arrested and remains under investigation by the Swedish Police Authority. According to reports from The Guardian, the suspect called emergency services himself to report that he was laying down his weapons. He also reportedly confessed to the killings immediately. Local Sweden Police chief Petra Stenkula said the attacker did not resist arrest. Before this, he had no criminal record.
Reports are suggesting that the suspect was armed with a knife and an axe, but police have yet to confirm the weapons used. In a press release, Chief Stenkula did confirm that Sweden’s local police had seized several weapons at the scene that were not firearms. Similarly, there have yet to be any reports as to the exact cause of death of the two teachers.
As Sweden grapples with the catastrophic attack, authorities are swiftly trying to understand the motives for the incident. Right now, investigators are working around the clock to determine whether the alleged attacker had specifically targeted the two teachers, or if it was a random act. Similarly, they are trying to determine if he had planned to continue his killing spree. On the day the attack occurred, there were estimated to be 50 students and teachers inside the building at that time.
School attacks are moderately unheard of in Sweden. But there are now raised concerns following a string of similar events that recently have happened throughout the Scandinavian country. In January, a 16-year-old was arrested for stabbing a student and a teacher with a knife at a school in Kristianstad. Last August, a student reportedly attacked a school employee with a knife as well. According to Statista analytical reports, there may be cause for this raised alarm throughout Sweden. Compared to other Nordic countries in the region, Swedish people are twice as likely to feel threatened by violence where they live. Furthermore, the number of reported crimes has increased over the past decade. The deadly attack at the school in Sweden has garnered national attention as many are crushed that the country that has long been revered as being the happiest place in the world is seeing a slew of violent attacks.
