Earlier this week, the trial began against the 16-year-old boy who is suspected of having planned a school attack in the Gothenburg area in May. He is charged on suspicion of preparation for the murder of other students, violation of the Act on Flammable and Explosive Goods and violation of the Weapons Act.
According to the preliminary investigation, Säpo should have known about the 16-year-old earlier this year and later involved the police in the investigation. Among other things, knives and flammable and explosive goods, a combat vest and a mouth guard with a skull motif were found in his home.
The accused is said to have planned to enter the school on a certain date with the aim of killing and injuring a number of people. He allegedly chose music to be played during the attack, prepared names and set a date. In interrogation, he says that the plan was not to kill anyone:
“I never intended to kill anyone. I have been angry with people, I have said perhaps that I would do something to them.”
TV4 Nyheterna has contacted the boy’s defense lawyer, Carl Jernström, who does not want to comment on the matter.
Not a unique phenomenon
Prior to the planned crime, he is said to have been in contact with two people who had previously been convicted of school attacks in Sweden. One of them was a then 16-year-old boy who stabbed a teacher in Eslöv in 2021 and a 16-year-old who stabbed a teacher and a student in Kristianstad last year. The boy is also said to have been in contact with a now convicted 18-year-old who last year planned a school attack in Skogås. In questioning, the defendant is said to have said that these people are his role models.
And that people who plan school attacks have contact with other like-minded people is not unusual, according to Hannah Pollack Sarnecki, researcher at FOI.
– It is not a unique phenomenon for Sweden, but also occurs in other countries, she tells TV4 Nyheterna.
Conspiratorial and racist world of ideas
According to Hannah Pollack Sarnecki, people move in different networks to find inspiration in each other.
– In most cases, it concerns people who are part of an environment and community, often online in various forums, via social media and in chats. They are inspired by each other and, for example, often read each other’s political manifestos, she says.
In both Swedish and foreign examples, there is usually a common denominator: The perpetrators have a great interest in violence and often move in racist online forums.
– They are about people who are often fully or partially inspired by a conspiratorial and racist world of ideas, and who often harbor a great fascination for violence and suffer from psychosocial illness to varying degrees.
Extremist networks
In recent years, there have been a number of planned and carried out school attacks in Sweden. She believes that there are few people who would commit a school act, even if there are a number of factors that come into play.
– It is clear that it is important to take this seriously. These are few people, but we have seen in our research that the ideas they express are widespread in extremist networks, while some of the ideas have also spread in more established contexts.
The verdict against the 15-year-old will come on Thursday, November 2 at 11:00 a.m., prosecutor Karin Andersson tells TV4 Nyheterna.