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Japan Times
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Japan Times
Killings at European schools fan concern U.S. problem is spreading
A spate of school killings in Western Europe has raised pressure on authorities to tackle a problem long seen as a largely U.S. phenomenon, increasing momentum for tougher gun and security laws as well as more policing of social media. While mass shootings remain far more common in the United States, four of the worst school shootings in Western Europe this century have occurred since 2023; two of them — a massacre of 11 people in Austria and another in Sweden — have taken place this year. Last week's killings in the Austrian city of Graz sparked calls for tighter gun laws by political leaders, mirroring the response of the Swedish government after the 11 deaths at the Campus Risbergska school in Orebro in February. "Mass shootings, of which school shootings are a part, were overwhelmingly a U.S. problem in the past, but the balance is shifting," said Adam Lankford, a criminologist at the University of Alabama. "The number in Europe and elsewhere is increasing." Part of the rise stems from copycat attacks in Europe often inspired by notorious U.S. rampages such as the 1999 Columbine High School massacre, according to shooters' own comments or their internet search histories, Lankford said. "It's like an export from America. These attackers see other people do it and it has a snowball effect." According to research by Lankford and his colleague, Jason Silva, shootings carried out by people eager for notoriety were twice as numerous in the United States as in the rest of the world between 2005 and 2010. By 2017-22, the rest of the world had caught up. Their data also shows that Europe accounts for a bigger share of mass shootings than it used to. It should be easier for European politicians to act against mass shootings than in the United States, due to the central role of guns in American culture and identity, Lankford said. The European Union has left gun laws and regulation of social media up to member states. Recent killings have seen a drive by several countries to apply tougher rules. In Sweden, the government agreed to tighten the vetting process for people applying for gun licenses and to clamp down on some semi-automatic weapons following the Orebro killings. Incidents of violence and threatening behavior in junior high and high schools in Sweden rose over 150% between 2003 and 2023, according to a report by the country's Work Environment Authority. In Finland, where a 12-year-old shot dead a fellow pupil and badly wounded two others in 2024, schools practice barricading doors and hiding from shooters. The government has also proposed stricter punishments for carrying guns in public. Following a deadly December knife attack at a Zagreb primary school, Croatia's government tightened access to schools and mandated they must have security guards. Germany has gradually imposed tighter controls on gun ownership since school massacres in 2002 and 2009, and last year introduced a ban on switchblades and on carrying knives at public events following a series of knife attacks. Tightening gun ownership was the only way politicians could show they were taking the issue seriously, said Dirk Baier, a criminologist at the Zurich University of Applied Sciences. "There will certainly be resistance to this, from hunters, sport shooters, or other lobby groups," he said. "However, I think the arguments for tightening the laws will outweigh the arguments against." Gun laws have also been a hot political topic in the Czech Republic since a student shot dead 14 people at the Charles University in Prague in December 2023. The country made it obligatory for gun sellers to report suspicious purchases and requires doctors to check whether people diagnosed with psychological problems hold gun permits. Britain is holding a public inquiry into an attack in Southport in which three young girls were stabbed to death last year. U.K. drama "Adolescence," a story about a schoolboy accused of murder, explores concerns about toxic online culture. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron this month pressed for EU regulation to ban social media for children under 15 following a fatal school stabbing. What motivated the Austrian school gunman is still under investigation. Police said he was socially withdrawn and passionate about online shooting games. Most such shootings are carried out by young men, and criminologist Lankford said there was a global phenomenon of perpetrators seeking notoriety that eluded them in real life, driven in part by social media. "Even if the shooters expect to die, some are excited about leaving behind a legacy." Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said after the attack that the country's relatively liberal gun laws deserved closer scrutiny. Broad support in Austria for tightening gun ownership laws looked probable, although a general ban on private weapons seems unlikely, said political scientist Peter Filzmaier.
News18
10-06-2025
- News18
Are School Shootings On The Rise In Europe? 5 Cases In Five Years Paint Worrying Picture
Last Updated: From Prague to Örebro, despite stricter gun laws, a surge of school attacks across Europe underscores the need for mental health support. School shootings are unfortunately more prevalent in the US than in Europe. The US experiences multiple school shootings annually, often with high casualties, while Europe has seen comparatively few such incidents over recent decades. Between 1987 and 2025, Europe witnessed at least 22 mass shootings, with fewer than half targeting schools, colleges, or universities. The 1996 Dunblane massacre and Germany's 2002 Erfurt shooting, among Europe's deadliest, each resulted in 16 deaths, but such incidents were widely perceived as anomalies. However, while school shootings remain rare in Europe compared to North America, the recent Graz tragedy contributes to a growing list of attacks, including smaller but serious incidents in countries like Sweden, Serbia, and Czechia. In May 2023, Serbia experienced two school attacks. In Belgrade, a 13-year-old gunman killed eight classmates and a security guard. Two days later, another shooter opened fire in a nearby village, killing eight and wounding fourteen before being apprehended. The Belgrade shooter reportedly pre-planned the attack using his father's legally owned pistols and Molotov cocktails. Initially remorseless, he reportedly sought notoriety. Described as an excellent student with no prior disciplinary record, his actions shocked the public and officials. The Mladenovac village shooter acted out of personal grievances and emotional instability; the attack was described as random and indiscriminate. These two attacks led Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić to announce stricter firearm regulations and tighter gun ownership controls. The December 2023 shooting at Charles University in Prague, perpetrated by a 24-year-old student, is considered the deadliest mass shooting in Czechia's modern history. Czech authorities described the shooter as a lone wolf influenced by foreign mass shootings, particularly those in the United States. The suspect reportedly experienced mental health issues and expressed nihilistic views. Before the university attack, he had murdered his father and was suspected of another double homicide. On 4 February 2025, a shooting at Campus Risbergska, an adult education centre in Örebro, Sweden, resulted in eleven deaths, including the shooter, and six injuries. The shooter, 35-year-old Rickard Andersson, likely acted due to suicidal motives, targeting the school because of his past connection as a former student who had not completed his studies. These incidents, while distinct, highlight a concerning trend of violence in European educational settings. Motivations vary, from personal grievances to external influences, but a common factor appears to be underlying mental health issues. While specific triggers and circumstances differ, mental health struggles are increasingly recognised as a significant factor, overshadowing cases directly linked to terrorism.
South China Morning Post
16-05-2025
- South China Morning Post
Sweden school shooter's motive was suicide: police
A gunman who killed 10 people in a school shooting in Sweden in February was motivated by a wish to end his life because of financial and psychological woes, police said Friday. The shooter, 35-year-old Rickard Andersson, had repeatedly been denied social benefits, was struggling to survive financially and had mental health problems, commanding officer Henrik Dahlstrom said as he presented the conclusions of the investigation. Police believe Andersson, whose killing spree ended when he shot himself in Sweden's worst mass shooting, experienced 'an ever increasing frustration and hopelessness that developed into a wish to take his own life', Dahlstrom told reporters. Andersson likely chose the Campus Risbergska adult education centre in Orebro as the scene of his crime because he had taken maths classes there from 2019 to 2021, though he failed to complete the course, police said. He even brought an old maths book with him on the day of the shooting, Dahlstrom said. He added that despite the Swedish police's collaboration with their counterparts in Norway, the US and with Europol, many questions remained unanswered about the motive as Andersson's mobile phone and hard drives have never been found.
Japan Today
30-04-2025
- Politics
- Japan Today
Sweden stunned by new deadly gun attack
Swedish police sealed off a hair salon in the city of Uppsala where three people were killed in a shootout By Johannes LEDEL A shootout at a Swedish hair salon Tuesday left at least three people dead, police and media said, amid heightened nerves over gun violence in the Scandinavian nation. Gunfire erupted in the centre of Uppsala a day before a spring festival which draws more than 100,000 people to the city some 60 kilometers north of Stockholm. Police, who confirmed three dead, said the attack was staged by a masked gunman. Media reports said at least one suspect escaped on an electric 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 gang war. Sweden is also recovering from its worst mass shooting in February. "We have three people confirmed dead, but we have not confirmed their identities," 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, adding that door-to-door inquiries were being carried out around the scene of the shooting. Swedish media said witnesses heard several shots at a hair salon in the centre of the city. The SVT public broadcaster said one of the dead had been a suspect in an investigation into a planned attack against a relative of a gang leader, Ismail Abdo. "It's normally a quiet neighborhood, I do my shopping here every day," Elias Sundgren, a student at the local university, told AFP. Uppsala's mayor Erik Pelling told AFP he was "shocked and dismayed" by events. "I am also angry that it could happen," he added."We are forced to live with these crimes. I am frustrated that we have not been able to tackle this problem more effectively." 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 overhead -- 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. Sweden has struggled for years to rein in shootings and bombings between rival gangs. Earlier this month, two people were killed in a suspected gang fight in Gothenburg. A renowned rapper was shot dead in a gang battle in Gothenburg last year. 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 center-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
NZ Herald
29-04-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
Three dead after shootout in hair salon in Sweden
'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.' 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 overhead — 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% 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.
