STOCKHOLM: Swedish police are investigating whether an 18-year-old man accused of attacking students at a high school in central Sweden was connected to online communities that promote school violence, according to a police source.
The incident occurred on Friday in the town of Fagersta, where the suspect allegedly attacked students with a sword, killing one person and seriously injuring two teenage boys before being arrested.
Local newspaper Fagersta-Posten reported that the family of a 17-year-old girl said she was among those killed in the attack.
Investigators are also examining whether a TikTok account that posted a photograph of a sword around 20 minutes before the incident belonged to the suspect, the police source told Reuters. Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported that the photograph appeared to have been taken in a school restroom.
Before the account was removed, it had reportedly been active for about a month and contained references to previous mass violence incidents in Sweden as well as Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik.
The account also reportedly referred to a 2015 attack in Trollhattan, western Sweden, in which a masked attacker killed a teaching assistant and two students at a school before being shot dead by police.
A police source said investigators were examining whether online communities had influenced or encouraged the suspect before the attack.
Prosecutors on Saturday ordered the suspect to remain in custody on suspicion of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder.
Prosecutor Ann-Sofie Trossing said the investigation remained at an intensive stage, with authorities conducting interviews and collecting information, but declined to provide further details.
