It was at lunchtime on Tuesday that the police were alerted about an armed man at a wooded area on the outskirts of Alingsås.
Callers said the man did not appear to be well, and they were told to seek shelter.
— Then we went to the place without a clue of what was going on. When the first police officers arrived, they were shot at, says Robert Karlsson, deputy police regional manager, to TT.
— It has been a completely life-threatening situation. This is a weapon type made for warfare.
The man disappeared into the forest and was chased by more and more police officers. The regional task force joined in, a helicopter was flown in, dog patrols began searching for the man. School pupils and pre-school pupils were asked to stay indoors.
— In connection with the hunt, the investigative apparatus goes into full speed. At the end of the operation, we became relatively sure of who we were dealing with, says Robert Karlsson.
The man is already known to the police, but the regional police chief does not want to go into more detail about who he is.
Shoot at the police helicopter
During the almost three-hour long drama that followed, the man fired several volleys of shots at the police.
It is not known exactly how many, but police officers both in the helicopter and on the ground feel that they have been shot at.
Finally, the man was surrounded at a smaller house where he opened fire again. The officer fired back and hit him in the leg.
“We had medically trained response personnel who immediately began caring for this person,” says Robert Karlsson.
He was later taken to hospital in an ambulance that was standing by nearby.
Could have gone much worse
According to the police, the operation took three hours partly because they had to proceed carefully, and partly because they lost sight of him on a few occasions.
— This effort has been fantastic from start to finish. We immediately went to the place. We have been offensive. It is thanks to good police work and good judgment that only the perpetrator is injured. It could have gone much worse, says Robert Karlsson.
The man is suspected of several cases of attempted murder and serious weapons offences. During the hunt, for unknown reasons, a fire started in the forest. The police connect the fire to the incident but must investigate whether it was started by the arrested man.
The drama occurred on the outskirts of Alingsås. Contact with psychiatry
According to SVT Nyheter Väst, the man is in his 50s.
He was convicted in 2020 of violating the Act on Flammable and Explosive Goods after having stored explosive cartridges and explosive rods in his home in 2018, according to SVT’s information. The punishment was a suspended sentence and daily fines.
The man is also convicted of assault and, according to the judges, has had contact with psychiatry.