Swedish police confirm racist motive in school stabbing spree

Swedish police confirmed on Friday that the disguised man who went on a stabbing spree at a school in west Sweden on Thursday had acted on racist motives, local media reported.

The 21-year-old suspect attacked several people on Thursday morning, killing a teacher's assistant and fatally wounding a teenage student at a school in the western town of Trollhattan, daily newspaper Dagens Nyheter reported.

"He was selective about his victims," police spokesperson Thord Haraldsson told the newspaper after officers had consulted surveillance footage of the incident.

"Those with dark skin were attacked. He also met people with lighter skin. They were not attacked," Haraldsson said.

He added that the suspect, who later died in hospital after being shot by police, had marched around the school looking for his victims in a military helmet after leaving a xenophobic suicide letter behind in his apartment. Police said they are investigating the incident as a hate crime.

Public officials in Trollhattan municipality said attendance dropped sharply at several local schools on Friday.

"Several of them have locked their doors after decisions by the principals," Birgitta Lindstrom Sundefors, head of education at the municipality, told Dagens Nyheter.

Police were initially notified about the attack shortly after 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT) on Thursday, the newspaper reported. They opened fire at the suspect only eight minutes later.

A 41-year-old man wounded in the attack was in stable condition on Friday, while hospital staff confirmed that a 15-year-old boy who also sustained injuries had shown signs of improved health.

Memorials for the victims were held on Friday night across Sweden, which suffered its last attack on a school in 1961. Endit