Syrian refugees killed in Swedish gunman’s attack on school

Syria’s embassy to Stockholm says Syrians were among the 10 victims of a gunman who carried out the worst shooting in Swedish history, at a school in Orebro this week.

The suspected gunman, named locally as 35-year-old Rickard Andersson, was killed in the attack, but police have not yet identified him and have not given a motive.

The embassy’s announcement, on its Facebook page, was the first indication of who was killed in Tuesday’s attack at Risbergska school.

It gave no details of the number of Syrians caught up in the attack, but said: “We offer our sincere condolences and sympathies to the families of the victims, including dear Syrian citizens, and to the friendly Swedish people.”

Anna Bergkvist, the head of the police investigation, told the BBC that police could confirm only that people of multiple nationalities and ages were caught up in the attack.

Salim Iskef, a 29-year-old Orthodox Christian who fled the war in Syria in 2015, has been named as one of the 10 victims of the shooting.

Santa Maria church in Orebro said his life had ended tragically in the attack. Swedish reports said he had become a Swedish citizen and was due to get married in June.

His aunt told Arabic-language website Alkompis that he had made a video-call to his mother to say he had been shot and asked her to look after his fiancée.

Two Bosnian citizens are also among the victims, Bosnia’s ambassador has told Swedish daily Expressen. One was wounded and another was missing, he said. The Bosnian foreign ministry has expressed its condolences and spoken of Orebro’s large Bosnian community.

Police in Orebro said the alarm was raised at 12:33 (11:33 GMT) on Tuesday and after about five minutes the first patrols had reached the school, which sits on a large education campus about 200km (124km) west of Stockholm.

Regional police chief Lars Wiren told a news conference on Thursday that 130 police officers eventually reached the school.

They faced what could only be described as an “inferno” when they entered the school buildings on Tuesday, he said: “Dead people, screams and smoke.”

He spoke of a scene of chaos, with people running inside and outside a very large school that stretches out over about 17,000 sq m.

Wiren told the BBC that there was no evidence bombs had been detonated, but said there was thick smoke that could have come from the suspect setting fires or smoke grenades.

He said they believed the suspect had fired at police but that officers did not fire back. The gunman was found dead at the scene over an hour later.

Police investigator Anna Bergkwist said that the suspect had killed himself.

She confirmed that three guns were found at the scene next to the gunman, of a total of four known to be legally registered to the suspect.

However, she refused to comment on the types of guns or ammunition used.

Police remain tight-lipped about both the suspect and the possible motive behind the attack.

Bergkwist explained that the delay in naming the suspect was because of the wait for DNA samples to be matched.

Swedish police are usually cautious about naming suspects and would not normally do so ahead of charges being laid, but Bergkwist said they expected to make an exception in this case and release a name in the coming days.

Risbergska school provides adult education for people aged over 20 who did not finish primary or secondary school, as well as Swedish classes for immigrants.

Young residents in Orebro had already expressed fears of a racial element to the shooting, and the Syrian statement confirmed that immigrants were among the victims.

A video broadcast by Sweden’s TV4 was recorded during the gun attack from a school toilet in which the words “out of Europe!” are heard.

It is not clear who shouted the words and police have been careful not to discuss a motive.

However, Bergkwist appeared to row back an early statement from authorities on Tuesday that the motive for the attack was not ideological.

“Why they said that, I cannot comment,” she said. “We are looking at different motives, we will declare it when we have it.”

Rickard Andersson has been described locally as a recluse and one report by Swedish website Aftonbladet suggested his attack may have targeted local social services.

A source told the site that he had argued with a social worker after he had lost his welfare benefits because he had not done enough to find work.

Police said earlier that the suspect had no previous convictions, no apparent links to gangs and they did not believe the attack was motivated by terrorism.