A man armed with a sword severely injured two teenage boys, as well as a third person, at a Swedish high school on Friday, and one person was later detained, local authorities said, triggering a massive response from emergency services.
The incident occurred at the Brinell high school, which has 450 students aged 16 to 20, in Fagersta, a town of 13,000 inhabitants in central Sweden.
Two teenagers were taken to the hospital with severe injuries, regional emergency services said.
“A call was received regarding a case of ongoing deadly violence at a school in Fagersta. Police have responded to the scene and one person has been taken into custody,” the police said in a statement.
The suspect was shot by police during the arrest, according to Sweden’s national public radio broadcaster, Sveriges Radio.
His condition is currently unknown.
Attackers previously targeted schools
The same school had received a threat in May of this year, according to Sveriges Radio.
Last year, a shooting at an adult education center in the Swedish city of Orebro left 10 people dead in what Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said was the worst mass shooting in the country’s history.
“Police are continuing to work at the scene with a number of different resources. The public is urged to respect the roadblocks and listen to police instructions,” it added.
Fagersta municipality said that the school was evacuated and all the students were sent home.
The government is in close contact with the police following the attack, Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said in a statement to Reuters.
“We have been informed of a serious incident in Fagersta. The police are on site and working very intensively on the incident,” Strommer said.
Director of health and medical services Jonas Cederberg said that authorities had been moved to “high alert status to marshal our resources and gain the clearest possible picture of the situation.”
That will give us the best basis for making the right decisions,” he said.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said police were working intensively on the case and asked everyone to let them and the emergency services work undisturbed.
“Our thoughts are with all those affected,” he wrote in a post on X/Twitter.
En allvarlig händelse har inträffat idag i Fagersta på en skola, precis efter sommarlovet.
Det finns uppgifter om skadade personer. Vi vet ännu inte vad som ligger bakom dådet men vi vet att polisen arbetar mycket intensivt.
Jag vill be alla låta polis och räddningstjänst…
— Ulf Kristersson (@SwedishPM) August 21, 2026
The school had just opened after summer recess, and for some students it marked the first day at the senior high school.
Local newspaper Fagersta-posten spoke with Madelene Jansson outside the school her daughter had been attending.
“I first got a text message from her that somebody had been stabbed and that the police were on their way. Then it all just went off. It feels unreal,” she told the paper.
Several other schools and public buildings in Fagersta were also placed in lockdown after the sword attack took place.
