At 2:16 p.m. on Friday - ten minutes after the first alarm about ongoing deadly violence at Brinell School in Fagersta - the first patrol on site announced that “a perpetrator had been neutralised with live fire.”
Lena Ljungdahl, a school safety specialist and former police officer, says that the operation from alarm to arrest appears to have gone "very quickly."
The police are quite well-trained for incidents like this. Both because they have been trained in their working methods and because in Sweden, unfortunately, they have had to test them out a few times, she says, adding:
They were also a bit lucky that there was actually a patrol that was so close and could go in so quickly.
Mental preparation
For police officers faced with a situation involving ongoing deadly violence, knowledge is not enough; mental preparation is primarily required, according to Ljungdahl.
Being mentally prepared to use that knowledge is something that happens all the time. That you as an individual think, "What would happen if I were first there?"
During the arrest, the police fired live ammunition at the suspect, an 18-year-old man. According to the police, however, he was not hit by any bullets.
That's what you want most - to neutralise and arrest without the person dying. That increases the chance that we will find out why afterwards, says Lena Ljungdahl.
Leaked information
Although school attacks by lone perpetrators are difficult to prevent, she believes that the municipality, school, social services and police need to collaborate better.
It is said that in eight out of ten cases there has been some kind of leak in advance and in about six out of ten cases there are even detailed leaks about the plans. It very rarely comes like a bolt from the blue.
Following the attack in Fagersta, an image of a sword that was posted on TikTok shortly before the attack is being investigated. But the question of whether the perpetrator should have been discovered through, for example, his activity on social media is too early to answer, according to Lena Ljungdahl.
It would have been good if they had done it, but that doesn't mean it's easy. We know that they often leak information in advance, but that's something that the investigation will now have to show. Could this have been prevented and if so, how, so that we learn more going forward?
