Three people were killed on Tuesday in a shooting in the Swedish city of Uppsala, near Stockholm.
The shooting took place in Uppsala’s center, one day before the city celebrates a spring festival which 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.
Motive 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.”
Gang-related violence
Sweden has seen a wave of gang-related violence in the past decade, with many of the crimes beinag 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
