Sweden Moves To Prevent School Attacks After Deadly Sword Assault

Stockholm: Sweden will form a commission seeking to prevent attacks on schools, its government said Monday, days after a 17-year-old girl was killed and three people wounded by a sword-wielding assailant at a high school.

The attack on the school in the small town of Fagersta on Friday was the latest of several deadly incidents at educational institutions over the last decade.

Minister for Education and Integration Simona Mohamsson told a press conference Monday that the government would be appointing a school attack commission "that will propose new measures to prevent future school attacks."

"In recent years, Sweden has seen several serious and deadly attacks on schools," Mohamsson said.

"The idea of a completely open school is a good one, but reality means that we cannot allow unauthorised individuals free access to our schools," she added.

Mohamsson said she did not wish to speculate on what changes that commission might recommend.

Police said over the weekend that they were still investigating a motive for Friday's attack.

Police had opened fire against the 18-year-old suspect before taking him into custody. Over the weekend they said they were still investigating the motive in that attack.

Swedish media have reported that the perpetrator had a previous assault conviction and wore a helmet and carried a sword -- reminiscent of a 2015 school attack in the western town of Trollhattan in which a 21-year-old killed three people in a racially motivated attack.

In February 2025, a 35-year-old man killed 10 people at an adult education centre in Orebro.

In March 2022, an 18-year-old student stabbed two teachers to death at a secondary school in the southern city of Malmo.

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