An attacker armed with a sword wounded several people at a high school in central Sweden on Friday (Aug 21), authorities said, with Swedish media reporting that police had shot the alleged perpetrator.
“An assailant armed with a sword has entered Brinellskolan and wounded several people,” Fagersta municipality said in a statement. It added that the assailant had been detained by police.
Aftonbladet reported that a person wielding a machete had been shot in the leg by police. The report could not immediately be independently verified.
The municipality did not give a specific number of people injured but said police were searching the school. Other schools in the area had also been locked down, according to the municipality.
Public broadcaster SVT reported that ambulances, police vehicles and a police helicopter were at the school in Fagersta, a small city with a population of around 12,000.
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The incident comes amid a history of high-profile attacks at Swedish educational institutions.
In February 2025, a 35-year-old man killed 10 people at an adult education centre in Orebro in Sweden's worst mass shooting. Police said the attack was motivated by the man's desire to end his life amid financial and psychological difficulties.
In March 2022, an 18-year-old student fatally stabbed two teachers at a secondary school in Malmo.
In October 2015, three people were killed in a racially motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan. The sword-wielding attacker was subsequently killed by police.

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