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Before his murder, 18-year-old William talked on the phone for hours with a guy who came close to killing a teacher at a school in Eslöv.
But when William made contact with David, he tried to dissuade him from following in their footsteps.
– I don’t want anyone else to fall into the same mindset as I did.
His gaze was angry and determined. The student, whom we call William, kicked open the door to the classroom at the high school in Kristianstad a few minutes after the lesson started on the first day of the spring semester. He had a black mask over his face and walked with quick steps towards the teacher. He pulled out a knife and stabbed several times.
Panic broke out. At the same time as the classmates rushed out of the room, William injured a boy who did not get away in time. Then he sat down on a chair and called 112.
– I have just committed a school attack and I regret it, he said on the phone.
Now just over two years have passed. Wiiliam has turned 18. He is in a Sis home somewhere in Sweden and returns to his regrets.
– It turned out that I handled the whole situation very wrong. I had a thought that set off a chain of events so everything got worse and worse.
– There were many at school who did not want to spend time with me. I never found a group that I could be a part of. I started to feel sick and questioned why I was here in the first place. I got stuck in a hole and pulled myself down more and more.
But many people feel bad without hurting others because of it?
– Absolutely. I can’t really answer why it happened to me. I ended up in a very negative spiral.
William has had his closest relationships on the internet for a long time. In questioning with the police, he told about his best friend, whom he met online.
– He felt like a friend who actually wanted to be with me, although he didn’t have to because we were in the same class or something.
Six months before William’s death, the friend carried out an attack on his school in Eslöv. Then a teacher was close to death.
– Then it felt like I lost my friend, because we were not allowed to have any contact, William told the police.
The comrade was later convicted of attempted murder and grossly unlawful threats. A few weeks before William armed himself and went to school, he was allowed to speak to him on the phone. They talked for hours almost every day.
– We joked about how I stabbed the teacher during my attack, roughly how it happened and why I did it. There were some racist jokes as well, the friend has said in questioning.
William now says he wants to leave everything related to the crime behind him. But he remained for a long time in the digital circles where school attacks are discussed and perpetrators are praised.
In March of last year, he came into contact with David, who was in the middle of planning an attack in which he intended to kill and injure several schoolmates.
Exactly what they discussed is not known. But Aftonbladet has obtained screenshots which show that William tried to change David’s mind. He also raised the alarm to Säpo.
– I made a huge, terrible mistake. I don’t want anyone to get hurt or, in the worst case, lose their life, he says.
What could have been done to stop you committing this crime, do you think?
– I would have liked the staff at the school to have done more to help me. Then they might have realized how bad I actually felt. As it turned out, I didn’t even realize it myself.
– I would also have liked others around to have asked how I was doing. It had made me feel a little less alone. We should all get better at seeing the people around us.
FACT This is where you can turn if you feel unwell
There is help to get:
There are also patient associations and organizations that can provide more long-term support and belonging for people with mental illness, a list is available on 1177.
Source: mind.se and 1177
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