A dozen people are dead after the school shooting at Campus Risbergska in Örebro on Tuesday, February 4.
Campus Risbergska – formerly Risbergska gymnasium, also Risbergska skolan – is the center for municipal adult education in Örebro, inaugurated as such in 2017.
The school was founded as an elementary school for girls in 1863 and has since changed its name, focus and operational buildings over the years. It was a municipal upper secondary school in various forms from 1931 to 2016. The school is now located in the Rosta district by Svartån in western Örebro.
After the upper secondary school closed in 2016, the buildings were renovated and reopened on 9 November 2017 as Komvux under the current name Campus Risbergska. In June 2018, the operations were expanded to a combined learning center for Komvux, SFI and certain combined university services.
Teacher Petter Kraftling heard the shots and was in hiding during the entire police operation.
I think of the colleagues who may not be at work when I come back next time, he tells Vi Lärare.
Teacher Petter Kraftling, chairman of the Swedish Teachers Association in Örebro, is on his way home after being in hiding during the shooting at Campus Risbergska in Örebro – which resulted in about a dozen people being killed, according to the police.
I heard shots being fired, so I barricaded myself and waited for news. We have an alarm in the security app and I am communicating with colleagues, he says.
During the afternoon, he has followed the development of events via the media.There are several primary schools nearby, but according to TT and the Örebro region, there are no children among the injured.
Among the dead is the suspected perpetrator.
We still believe that we have the primary perpetrator, although we do not rule out more with a connection, says Roberto Eid Forest, head of the Örebro local police area, during the press conference.
The suspected perpetrator was previously unknown to the police and has no connection to any gang.
When Vi Lärare spoke to Petter Kraftling for the first time on Tuesday, the fire alarm was still sounding.
Now he is sitting in the car with his wife, on his way home to the family.
I am shocked. People have not understood what happened or the extent. And I'm worried about my colleagues, he says.
The national task force led the evacuation.
There were three camouflaged people who pointed automatic weapons at me, before they realized who I was. I've never been happier than when I handed them my keys, he says.
The path from Petter Kraftling's office to the exit is short, about forty meters.But on the way out, he saw traces of the incident.
They had moved injured people out through the main entrance. There were traces of blood, simply put.
The municipality has set up an emergency room in a church near the school, but Petter Kraftling wants to go home.
He assumes that Campus Risbergska will be closed on Wednesday, partly because the police need to work on securing evidence but also because doors have been broken open after the police operation.
Petter Kraftling says he feels confident that he will receive a crisis call through his employer if he needs it.
But right now his thoughts are elsewhere.
I am thinking about the colleagues who may not be at work when I come back next time,says Petter Kraftling.
The chairwoman of the Swedish Teachers' Union, Anna Olskog, is following the development.
I am closely following the terrible events that have unfolded at Campus Risbergska in Örebro. My thoughts go out to those who have been affected, says Anna Olskog.
The police are in the process of identifying the victims.
The reason we cannot be more specific at the moment is that the damage is so extensive, says Roberto Eid Forest, head of the Örebro local police area.
They are working to identify the people who were killed and follow up on the situation of the injured. There are currently no suspicions that this is a terrorist crime.
Kristersson repeats yesterday's call to the public not to speculate too much about the incident but instead to contribute what they can.
In due time we will get the answers, and then we can also draw conclusions, he continues.
Bishop Johan Dalman. Photo: Magnus Aronson / Svenska Kyrkan
The memorial service began with a minute of silence, followed by singing.
A city in shock, a country in shock, strong emotions about each other. A lit candle, a flower on the ground, clasped hands, the flag at half-mast. Silent people gathered in a group.
Everything speaks where words are lacking, says Bishop Johan Dalman.
I have a great wish for the entire Swedish people. Where did the beautiful Sweden go? I really want to ask everyone to help build it up again. To strengthen, I don't want to say the reputation, but the name. What it means to be Swedish, she says.
When Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer held a press conference on Tuesday evening, they were noticeably affected by the seriousness of what had happened. Just like everyone else, they are having a hard time grasping what had happened.
The bloodiest act in Sweden in modern times. Or as the Prime Minister put it at Tuesday evening's press conference: The worst mass shooting in Sweden's history.
Trying to understand the macabre that has happened is almost impossible. Another boundary has been crossed in a society that has been plagued by shootings and explosions in recent years. Acts of violence that have created insecurity and anxiety, but which in some sense are now fading.
When innocents are massacred at a school, it is yet another dimension in the bottomless and senseless evil of violence.
The past month has been pitch black. A record number of explosions that have further focused the spotlight on the organized crime that has grown during the past decade, especially. A high-profile murder of the accused Koran burner Salwan Momika, where the Prime Minister openly spoke about the possibility of foreign powers being behind it.
And just a few days later, the worst mass shooting ever in Sweden.
The attack has received great international attention, and will further change the image of Sweden abroad. But the attack in Örebro will also change Sweden. Violence has suddenly come even closer. Anxiety and insecurity will grow stronger.
We do not yet know the murderer’s motives, and that will certainly influence the debate going forward. But regardless of the motive, the incident itself will mean demands for tighter security at schools and public institutions. The threshold will be further lowered for new measures to prevent what happened from happening again.
The state’s most fundamental and central task is to protect the safety and security of its citizens. Sweden is now in a deep crisis here.
This puts pressure on politicians, and especially on the government. The current government is implementing what it calls a paradigm shift in crime prevention during this term. It involves stricter punishments, more wiretapping, more camera surveillance and a number of other measures, all to put a stop to serious crime.
But if this is not enough, what can politicians do to break the spiral of violence?
Expert: It is required for the school shooting to be classified as terrorism
There are many questions after Tuesday's school shooting in Örebro, where at least eleven people lost their lives and several were seriously injured.
According to the police, no ideological motivation has been found behind the shooting at this time, but the question of whether it is a terrorist crime or not remains.
The violence is intended to serve as a messenger for a political message, says terror researcher Hans Brun.
SVT News has spoken to terror researcher Hans Brun, who believes that it is currently far too early to say whether it is a terrorist crime or not.
There is far too little information known about it, and it is very important now that the police are allowed to work in peace with the preliminary investigation that has been initiated and that there is no speculation or spreading false rumors about this incident, says Hans Brun.
Terrorist crimes are defined differently from country to country, but as a rule, they should be motivated by a political motive.
The different definitions have one thing in common: there is always a political motive for using violence or threats of violence against people and property. The violence should function as a messenger for a political message, says Hans Brun.
To find out the perpetrator's motive behind the shooting, the police are carefully investigating whether the person left behind anything that indicates a political connection behind the incident.
Here you can see if he left behind some kind of manifesto, during the preliminary investigation, you will "study his computers and mobile phone and search for different types of explanations for this. But it is very important to emphasize that regardless of how you judge this, this is an extremely serious crime, says Hans Brun.
School shootings are an unusual phenomenon in Sweden but are significantly more common in countries like the USA. But based on the American experience, school shootings are rarely linked to terrorism.
It is relatively unusual for school shootings to be linked to political crime and terrorism, but it is rather about mental illness and other problems, but again, that does not take away from the terrible nature of this incident, says Hans Brun.
But whether the crime is ultimately defined as a terrorist crime or not, the work of the police looks the same. In Sweden, the police work together with healthcare and emergency services based on a concept called ongoing deadly violence (PDV) and the working method looks the same regardless of the motive.
With the exception that if there are political connections, you can request help from the security police, says Hans Brun.
Based on:
Skolskjutning i Örebro – elva personer döda / SVT (in Swedish)
Experten: Det krävs för att skolskjutningen ska klassas som terrorism / SVT (5.2.2025)
”Ännu en våldets gräns har passerats” / SVT (5.2.2025)
SKOLDÅDET: Läraren berättar om skräcken i klassrummet / SVT (4.2.2025)
Campus Risbergska / Wikipedia
Also read the publication:
Legal Case Over Greenland's Resources Continues Ahead Of Elections
