Swedish police probe online links after fatal school sword attack

Fagersta, Sweden. Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man suspected of attacking students with a sword at a high school was involved in online communities promoting school violence. One person was killed and two teenage boys were severely injured in Friday’s attack.

Online activity under investigation

Police are examining whether a TikTok account that posted an image of a sword 20 minutes before the assault belonged to the suspect, a police source told Reuters.

According to Dagens Nyheter, the image appeared to have been taken in a school restroom. Before it was removed on Friday, the month-old account contained videos referring to two episodes of mass violence in Sweden and to Norwegian far-right mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

One video referred to a 2015 school attack in Trollhattan, western Sweden, in which a masked swordsman killed a teaching assistant and two boys before being shot dead by police.

“The investigators are looking into various online communities which might have egged on the suspect to carry out the attack,” the police source said.

Victim and suspect

The attacker struck at a school in Fagersta, central Sweden, before being arrested by police. The parents of a 17-year-old girl told local newspaper Fagersta-Posten that their daughter was killed in the attack.

Police said on Saturday that the suspect had not been shot, correcting information released on Friday.

Political leaders visit Fagersta

Several party leaders cancelled planned speeches on Saturday and paused campaigning before the September 13 election.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and opposition leader Magdalena Andersson travelled to Fagersta to offer condolences to the bereaved family and visit the injured.

“What should never happen has happened again,” Kristersson told reporters in Fagersta. “Our thoughts go first and foremost to the families who have been incredibly hard hit by this,” he said.

Sweden’s worst mass shooting took place in February 2025 at a school in Orebro, south-central Sweden, where a gunman killed 10 people before killing himself.