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Trollhättan school stabbing

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On 22 October 2015, a mass stabbing occurred at Kronan School, a high school in Trollhättan, Sweden. 21-year-old Anton Lundin Pettersson killed three people and injured another with a sword, later dying from gunshot wounds sustained during his apprehension.

Trollhättan school stabbing
Lundin Pettersson, photographed in the corridors of Kronan
Trollhättan is located in Västra Götaland
Trollhättan
Trollhättan
Trollhättan (Västra Götaland)
Trollhättan is located in Sweden
Trollhättan
Trollhättan
Trollhättan (Sweden)
LocationKronan School, Trollhättan, Sweden
Coordinates58°16′09″N 12°18′20″E / 58.2691°N 12.3055°E / 58.2691; 12.3055
Date22 October 2015 (2015-10-22)
10:06 – 10:16 (UTC+2)
TargetImmigrant students and teachers
Attack type
Mass stabbing
WeaponCold Steel Viking Sword[1]
Deaths4 (including the perpetrator)
Injured2
PerpetratorAnton Niclas Lundin Pettersson
MotiveOpposition to immigration, racism, depression, suicidal ideation

The initial police investigation concluded that Pettersson was motivated by opposition to immigration and had chosen the school as his target due to its location in a neighbourhood with a high immigrant population.

Background

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The city of Trollhättan has a history of previous hate crimes, including an arson attack at a mosque in the 1990s. It has been described as the most ethnically segregated city in Sweden.[2]

Stabbing

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Pettersson entered Kronan at 10:06, wearing black clothing, a cape, a Stahlhelm-style helmet and a paintball mask. At first, eyewitnesses believed Pettersson's presence to be a Halloween prank.[3] Media outlets compared Pettersson's appearance to the appearance of Darth Vader, a fictional character in the film franchise Star Wars.[4]

20-year-old teaching assistant Lavin Eskandar confronted Pettersson, who immediately stabbed him. Eskandar died at the scene.[5] Pettersson then stabbed a 15-year old Somali student, Ahmed Hassan, who died from his injuries later in the hospital. Pettersson then stabbed a 15-year-old unnamed Syrian student, who survived his injuries.[6]

Whilst wandering the halls, two students encountered Pettersson and, believing his presence to be a Halloween prank, posed with him and took a picture. Niclas Hallgren, the city's police chief, said that Pettersson spared them due to them having white skin.[7][8]

Shortly after, a 42-year-old teacher, Nazir Amso, confronted Pettersson and demanded he remove his mask. Petterson then charged at Amso and stabbed him. Amso died of his injuries six weeks later in hospital on 3 December. Shortly before 10:16, police officers arrived at the scene, ten minutes after Petterson arrived at the school. Pettersson reportedly charged at police and was shot in the abdomen, later dying from his injuries in hospital.[9][10][11]

Perpetrator

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Anton Niclas Lundin Pettersson[a] (22 June 1994 – 22 October 2015)[12] was identified as the attacker by Expressen.[13] Pettersson had no criminal record and was not a member of any political organisation, but had supported a petition by the Sweden Democrats to initiate a referendum on immigration.[2] According to Aftonbladet, Pettersson had visited far-right and extremist websites supporting Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany and had also joined a Facebook group that opposed immigration to Sweden.[14] The Swedish Security Service was called in to investigate these findings.[14]

Pettersson lived in an apartment building far away from Kronan but chose to attack the school due to it being in Kronogården, a town with a high immigrant population; police cited this as more evidence towards his motive.[2] Former classmates described Pettersson as a lonely person who "lived in his own world" and dressed in black clothing influenced by the emo or rock scene.[14]

Bjørn Ihler, a survivor of the 2011 Norway attacks, wrote in The Guardian that in 2013, Pettersson had liked a YouTube video of former Ku Klux Klan leader Johnny Lee Clary testifying how a positive experience with a black man had caused him to disavow his previously-held racist beliefs.[15] He was also said to have interacted with online content that demeaned women and religious people.[15]

Self-harm scars were found on his arms, and it was later revealed that he had completed an online test for depression, along with watching videos of people committing suicide. He had saved material surrounding hopelessness, being misunderstood, self-hatred, violence, and death, along with material suggesting he was uncertain about his sexual identity.[1]

Aftermath and reactions

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On the morning of 23 October, a day after the attack, Swedish police and media confirmed that the attack had "racist motives" and that it was a "hate crime".[16] Niclas Hallgren, the city's police chief, stated that all of the victims of the attack were "dark-skinned".[2] Head of Investigation, Thord Haraldsson said that CCTV footage showed that Pettersson spared the lives of students with white skin.[7][8] The initial police investigation concluded that Pettersson was motivated by opposition to immigration and had chosen the school as his target due to its location in a neighbourhood with a high immigrant population.[2]

After the news of the attack, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven travelled to Trollhättan, calling it a "black day" for the country.[9] Minister for Integration Anders Ygeman wrote on Twitter: "It is with sadness and dismay I received the news of the attack on the school in Trollhättan. My thoughts go to the victims and their families".[9] King Carl XVI Gustaf said that the royal family received the news "with great dismay and sadness".[17]

During the days leading up to Halloween, there were reports of people wearing suspicious outfits or brandishing weapons, which were discovered to be people celebrating Halloween. The police warned the public not to carry imitation weapons with their Halloween costumes, to avoid potentially dangerous misunderstandings.[18] Kronan school remained closed until 2 November, when it reopened with higher security.[19]

On 29 September 2017, a book about the attack was published, Det som aldrig fick ske [sv] (transl. What Was Never Supposed To Happen). The book contained information about the attack previously unavailable to the public, including a message Pettersson sent to an online friend before the attack that the Pettersson family did not know about. The author, Åsa Erlandsson [sv], spoke to the brother of Pettersson.[20] Erlandsson won the Stora Journalistpriset for the book.[21]

On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, where 51 people were killed and 40 others were injured. The perpetrator behind the shootings mentioned Pettersson in his manifesto and declared his support for him, in addition to writing Petterson's name on one of his guns.[22][23]

Notes

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  1. ^ The family name is Lundin Pettersson, not Pettersson.

References

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  1. ^ a b Erlandsson, Åsa; Meloy, J. Reid (November 2018). "The Swedish School Attack in Trollhättan" (PDF). Journal of Forensic Sciences. 63 (6): 1917–1927. doi:10.1111/1556-4029.13800. ISSN 0022-1198. PMID 29684937.
  2. ^ a b c d e Crouch, David (23 October 2015). "Swedish police say school attack was racist, as refugee rules tightened". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 14 October 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  3. ^ Thomas, Jamie; Vinograd, Cassandra (22 October 2015). "Sword Attack at Kronan School in Trollhattan Kills Teacher, Wounds 3". NBC News. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  4. ^
  5. ^
  6. ^ Crouch, David (23 October 2015). "Swedish police say school attack was racist, as refugee rules tightened". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2 September 2023.
  7. ^ a b Stenquist, Victor (4 December 2015). "Läraren död efter attacken i Trollhättan" [Teacher dead after attack in Trollhättan]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 6 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  8. ^ a b Wikström, Sanna; Salihu, Diamant; Berntsson, JonathanOlsson; Olsson, Daniel (4 December 2015). "Tredje offret död efter skolattacken" [Third victim dead after school attack]. Expressen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 4 December 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
  9. ^ a b c "Sweden sword attack: Two killed by masked attacker". BBC News. 22 October 2015. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  10. ^ "Tre dödsoffer: Vuxen, elev och gärningsman" [Three deaths: adult, student and perpetrator]. Svenska Dagbladet (in Swedish). 22 October 2015. Archived from the original on 25 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  11. ^ "Sweden sword attack: Two dead after masked attacker strikes". BBC News. 22 October 2015. Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  12. ^ Barth-Heyerdahl, Lars; Treborg, Ingrid; Kirkerud, Kaja; Johannessen, Kjersti; Moltubak, Roar Dalmo (22 October 2015). "Svenske medier: Anton Lundin Pettersson (21) drepte to personer med sverd" [Swedish media: Anton Lundin Pettersson (21) killed two people with a sword]. TV 2 (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 27 May 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  13. ^ El-Mochantaf, Christer; Nilsson, Gustaf; Olsson, Daniel; Berntsson, Jonathan (22 October 2015). "Anton Lundin Pettersson mördade två i skolan" [Anton Lundin Pettersson murdered two at school]. Expressen (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 22 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  14. ^ a b c Tagesson, Eric; Granlund, John; Nordström, Isabelle; Svahn, Niklas (22 October 2015). "Anton, 21, misstänks för morden på skolan" [Anton, 21, suspected of the school murders]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  15. ^ a b Ihler, Bjørn (23 October 2015). "The Trollhättan killer didn't become an extremist overnight. Somebody could have stopped him". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  16. ^ Andersson, Sofia Roström; Hagberg, Sebastian; Andersson, Jakob; Nordström, Isabelle (23 October 2015). "Han marscherade som en militär" [He marched like a soldier]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 30 July 2017. Retrieved 23 October 2015.
  17. ^ Perry, Dave (22 October 2015). "UPDATE: Sweden's king: Country 'in shock' after attacks". Aurora Sentinel. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  18. ^ "Swedish police: don't wear Halloween masks". The Local. 23 October 2015. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  19. ^ "Trollhättan pupils return after fatal school attack". The Local. 2 November 2015. Archived from the original on 3 November 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  20. ^ Rapp, Johanna (26 September 2017). "Anton Lundin Petterssons bror berättar nu om tiden före dådet" [Anton Lundin Pettersson's brother talks about the time before the attack]. Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  21. ^ "Det som aldrig fick ske: Pristagare år 2017 i kategorin Årets Berättare: Åsa Erlandsson" [What Was Never Allowed To Happen: Winner of the 2017 Narrator of the Year award: Åsa Erlandsson]. Stora Journalistpriset (in Swedish). Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  22. ^ Clason, Sofia (15 March 2019). "Hyllade Anders Breivik och Anton Lundin Pettersson" [Praised Anders Breivik and Anton Lundin Pettersson]. Expressen (in Swedish). Retrieved 9 June 2019.
  23. ^ Kupper, Julia (17 October 2022). "The Venomous Rhetorical Web of Far-Right Terrorists". Global Network on Extremism and Technology. Retrieved 13 October 2023.

Further reading

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