Man Kills 2 at School in Sweden and Wounds Several Others

A 21-year-old man armed with a sword or a large knife entered a school in southwest Sweden on Thursday morning, killed a teacher and a student, and wounded two other people before he was fatally shot by the police, the authorities said.

The shooting occurred in the cafe area of a school in Kronogarden, a working-class and heavily immigrant neighborhood in the struggling industrial city of Trollhattan, which is about 45 miles north of Sweden’s second-largest city, Goteborg. The suspect was taken to a hospital and died there, the police said.

The attack stunned Sweden, where violent crime is relatively rare.

“Sweden is in shock,” King Carl XVI Gustaf said in a statement. “It’s with great dismay and sorrow that I and my family have been informed of the events in Trollhattan.”

Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, on his way to the school, said in a statement, “This is a dark day for Sweden.”

He continued: “My thoughts go out to the victims and their families, pupils and staff, and the entire community that has been affected. There are no words to describe what they are going through right now.”

Stefan Gustafsson, a spokesman for the regional police, said in a phone interview that the police had been called to the scene about 10:10 a.m. and had shot the suspect. “This has been a very traumatic experience,” he said. “When police entered the school, the man was shot. Many people have gone to the hospital.”

According to the police, the suspect used the blade to chop or slash his victims.

More From The New York Times: