A 17-year-old girl was killed and three other pupils wounded when a teenager armed with a sword attacked students during lessons at Brinell High School in Fagersta, police said. An 18-year-old man was arrested at the scene on Friday afternoon, and prosecutors have ordered his detention on suspicion of murder and several counts of attempted murder.
Two of the injured were boys aged 12 and 17 who sustained minor injuries. A third person, also under 18, received minor injuries and has been discharged from hospital, Swedish news agency TT reported. The victim’s parents told local paper Fagersta-Posten that their daughter had been killed in the assault.
Detectives are probing whether the suspect participated in online communities that promote school violence, a police source told Reuters. Investigators are examining a TikTok account that posted a photograph of a sword about 20 minutes before the attack, and checking whether the image, which Dagens Nyheter said appeared to be taken in a school restroom, belonged to the person now in custody. The account, created about a month ago, included videos referencing Anders Behring Breivik and the 2015 Trollhättan attack, the source said.
“The investigators are looking into various online communities that may have egged on the suspect to carry out the attack,” the police source said.
Police initially gave mixed information about whether force had been used in the arrest. A spokesperson later told the Aftonbladet daily, “Service weapons were used but the perpetrator has not been injured in connection with the arrest, and has not been in need of medical attention.”
The assault halted national campaigning ahead of Sweden’s 13 September general election, with several party leaders cancelling planned speeches. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and opposition leader Magdalena Andersson travelled to Fagersta to visit the injured and to offer condolences. Kristersson said, “What should never happen has happened again. Our thoughts go first and foremost to the families who have been incredibly hard hit by this.”
The attack has revived fears about violence at schools, following a 2015 swords attack in Trollhättan and Sweden’s worst recent mass shooting in February 2025 in Örebro, where a gunman killed 10 people before taking his own life. Authorities say the immediate priorities are forensic and digital inquiries into the suspect’s links online, and the legal process now underway after the prosecutor ordered detention.
