Sweden gun attack leaves three dead
The shooting erupted in the centre of Uppsala a day before a spring festival which draws more than 100,000 people to the city some 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Stockholm.
Police, who confirmed three dead, said attack was staged by a masked gunman. Media reports said he escaped on a scooter after the early evening shootout.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer called the killings "extremely serious" but police would not say if it was the latest episode in a long running war between gangs. Sweden is also still recovering from its worst mass shooting in February.
"We have three people confirmed dead, but we have not confirmed their identities yet," police spokesman Magnus Jansson Klarin told AFP.
"We received reports of a masked person on an electric scooter, we are looking into those reports," he said.
Swedish media said witnesses heard several shots at a hair salon in the centre of the city.
"It's normally a quiet neighbourhood, I do my shopping here every day," Elias Sundgren, a student at the local university, told AFP.
Gang violence
The shooting came a day before Uppsala holds the Valborg festival to mark the start of spring. While police sealed off the streets around the hair salon -- and a drone flew oveerhead -- they sought to reassure the huge number of visitors expected.
"People should not be afraid to come tomorrow," Klarin said.
"There are 100,000 to 150,000 people expected in Uppsala for Valborg tomorrow, and there are already a whole lot here today."
On February 4, the country was rocked by its worst mass shooting when 35-year-old Rickard Andersson entered the Campus Risbergska adult education centre in the city of Orebro and shot dead 10 people before turning the gun on himself.
But the Nordic country has struggled for years to rein in shootings and bombings linked to score-settling between rival gangs.
Perpetrators are often young teens who are hired as contract killers because they are under 15, the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden. The number of reported gang deaths fell in 2024 however.
In the country of 10.6 million people, 92 cases of deadly violence were recorded in 2024, 29 fewer than 2023, and the lowest level since 2014, according to official data.
There were 296 reported shooting cases in 2024, a 20 percent decrease from the year before, according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Bra).
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's centre-right minority government, which is backed in parliament by the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats, came to power in 2022 with a vow to get tough on crime.
© 2025 AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
an hour ago
- France 24
Greta Thunberg tells FRANCE 24 she was 'kidnapped' by Israel
Greta Thunberg on Tuesday accused Israel of kidnapping her and her fellow pro-Palestinian activists in international waters, saying she declined to sign a document stating she entered the country illegally prior to being deported. Speaking to media outlets including FRANCE 24 at the arrivals section of Paris 's Charles de Gaulle airport after being deported from Israel, the Swedish activist said she and her team had broken no laws, and called for the immediate release of the activists still in Israel. "I was very clear in my testimony that we were kidnapped on international water and brought against our will into Israel," she said. Thunberg, 22, arrived in Paris a day after the Israeli navy prevented her and a group of fellow pro-Palestinian activists from sailing to Gaza. Israeli forces boarded the charity vessel as it neared Gaza early on Monday, trying to break through a years-old naval blockade of the coastal enclave, and seized the 12-strong crew, including Thunberg.
France 24
4 hours ago
- France 24
10 dead in Austria school shooting: mayor
Several students and at least one adult, as well as the suspected shooter, were among the dead, mayor Elke Kahr confirmed to Austrian press agency APA. School shootings are much more rare in Europe than in the United States but in recent years Europe has been shaken by attacks at schools and universities, that were not connected to terrorism. "Currently, a police operation is underway... The reason for the deployment was that gunshots were heard in the building," the police said on X, confirming the attack in the city of Graz. Police and interior ministry officials could not immediately be reached by AFP. "The situation is very unclear at the moment," police sources told Austria's APA news agency. EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas declared herself "deeply shocked" Tuesday by reports of the shooting. "Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence," Kallas posted on X. "My thoughts are with the victims, their families and the Austrian people in this dark moment." Attacks in public are rare in the Alpine nation of almost 9.2 million people. It ranks among the ten safest countries in the world, according to the Global Peace Index. In January 2025, an 18-year-old man fatally stabbed a high school student and a teacher at a school in northeastern Slovakia. In December 2024, a 19-year-old man stabbed a seven-year-old student to death and injured several others at a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia. In December 2023, an attack by a student at a university in central Prague left 14 people dead and 25 injured. A few months earlier that year, a 13-year-old gunned down eight fellow classmates and a security guard at an elementary school in downtown Belgrade. Six children and a teacher were also injured. The shooter contacted the police, who arrested him. In 2009, nine pupils, three teachers and three passers-by were killed in a school shooting at Winnenden in southern Germany by a former pupil who then killed himself.
France 24
7 hours ago
- France 24
Australian mushroom murder suspect denies covering tracks
Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband's parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking a beef Wellington lunch with the fatal fungi. She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth lunch guest -- her husband's uncle -- who survived the dish after a long stay in hospital. Patterson denies all charges in the trial, which has made headlines worldwide. She says the beef-and-pastry meal, which she cooked in individually sized portions, was poisoned by accident. Two days after the lunch, Patterson went to hospital but left within minutes against medical advice, saying she needed to make arrangements for her children and animals and would return shortly afterwards. Patterson was absent for 95 minutes before she returned to receive medical treatment, the trial heard. Prosecution lawyer Nanette Rogers charged Patterson with using this time to "cover your tracks" and only went back to hospital to "maintain the fiction of being similarly unwell as your lunch guests". Online mushroom search Patterson rejected the accusation. "I am sure I did some thinking in that time, but it was not about covering my tracks," Patterson said. The accused said she used the 95-minute window to pack her child's ballet bag and feed the animals. The court heard that internet logs indicated Patterson's device accessed a website showing death cap mushroom sightings in May 2022 -- a year before the lunch. Patterson said she could not recall visiting that website. She rejected the allegation that she must have been familiar with it because she looked up the specific webpage. The lunch host said her "only interest" in death cap mushrooms was to ensure they did not grow in the South Gippsland area, where she lived. The prosecutor charged that Patterson's real interest was in "death cap mushrooms generally", not just whether they grew in the local area. Patterson denied the claim. 'Lying' about vomiting Patterson had invited her estranged husband Simon to join the family lunch at her secluded home in the Victorian state farm village of Leongatha. Simon turned down the invitation saying he felt uncomfortable going, the court heard previously. The pair were long estranged but still legally married. Simon's parents Don and Gail, and his aunt Heather Wilkinson, attended the lunch and all three were dead within days. Heather's husband Ian fell gravely ill but recovered. Patterson has told the court she had an eating disorder and made herself vomit after her guests left, explaining why she did not become as ill as her lunch guests. Rogers suggested to Patterson on Tuesday that she was "lying" about vomiting. Patterson responded: "I wish that were true, but it is not." © 2025 AFP
