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Schools reopen in Fagersta after attack, as memorial grows outside Brinell School

Published · 2 min readFollow Sweden
Schools reopen in Fagersta after
Photo: Jonas Ekströmer/TT
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A 17-year-old girl was killed and two boys were seriously injured when a young man attacked with a sword at a high school on Friday.

The primary and secondary schools in Fagersta opened as usual on Monday, while the premises of the affected Brinell School remained closed. Instead, the high school students gathered in Fagerstahallen, but not for a regular school day.

It's a surreal feeling. Last Friday, people expected Monday to be a normal day. Then something happened that shouldn't have happened, says Johannes Håll, operations manager for the primary school in Fagersta municipality, to TT at the memorial site of flowers and candles that has grown up outside Brinell School.

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Planning in grief

During the weekend, he has been in the midst of both grief over what happened and planning the practicalities - being able to create a safe environment for children and students when the school week begins.

Was it natural to gather so closely after what had happened?

No, but we discussed it back and forth. We got good feedback from Save the Children and the psychologist, who conveyed the importance of having a common place for children and young people to gather, talk and ask questions, says Johannes Håll.

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Got in touch with the daughter

Reine Sundqvist is the father of two school-age children. One of them, his daughter, is a student at Brinell School and was there when the attack occurred.

"It's heartbreaking. My daughter had her cell phone with her, so I got in touch with her pretty quickly. It's a big shock, what happened," says Reine Sundqvist.

Corrected: In a previous version, the director of operations for the elementary school was given the wrong surname.

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In this story
AuthorTT News AgencyEnglish edition by Sweden Herald, adapted for our readers
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