Swedish officials said they detained a 16-year-old suspect on Wednesday, following a shooting and killing of three people at a hair salon in the central-eastern city of Uppsala on Tuesday.
The shooting took place in Uppsala’s center in broad daylight, one day before the city celebrates a spring “Valborg” festival that traditionally draws some 100,000 visitors.
According to police, the attack was carried out by a masked assailant, with media reporting he managed to make an escape while riding a scooter.
Police questioning several in connection to Uppsala shooting
“One person has been arrested suspected of murder,” Swedish police commander Erik Akerlund said in a media briefing.
Several people “considered of interest in the investigation” had been brought in for questioning, Akerlund added.
At least one of the killed had connections to organized gang crime, according to Swedish media, although the police have not confirmed the reports yet.
According to the police, the shooting incident was “an isolated event,” not linked to Valborg night celebrations.
Motvie behind deadly attack remains unclear
There was no information to suggest the incident was a terrorist attack or a hate crime, local police said, adding a homicide investigation has been launched.
The victims are yet to be identified, according to police, with several media in the country reporting the shooting took place next to a hair salon.
Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Strommer said his ministry is in close contact with law enforcement authorities.
“A brutal act of violence has occurred in central Uppsala,” Strommer said in a statement, also calling the incident “extremely serious.”
Sweden’s gang-related violence
Sweden has seen a wave of gang-related violence in the past decade, with many of the crimes being committed with guns, with the perpetrators often being under the age of 15, the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden.
Police did not say whether the Tuesday shooting was an instance of gang violence.
The country experienced its deadliest-ever mass shooting in February as a 35-year-old lone gunman opened fire at an adult education center in the city of Orebro, killing ten people.
Earlier this month, two people were killed in a gang battle in Sweden’s second-most populous city of Gothenburg.
Edited by: Saim Dušan Inayatullah, Alex Berry
