Niclas Hallgren believes that the operation was handled correctly under the circumstances and that it followed the police rulebook for incidents of ongoing deadly violence.
"It was an incredibly complex incident and the operation was completely focused on finding the perpetrators inside the school. It followed a specific model that we use," he says.
“Life-threatening environment”
At the same time, he admits that the ability to provide care to the injured during the ongoing operation could have been better.
We can state that two of the injured died some time later inside the school. This is something that we naturally regret and believe is a strong basis for continuing to work on developing that ability.
But couldn't the police officers who were backing them up take the injured with them?
Now we see the big picture, but that's not how it looked at the scene. For them, it was a life-threatening environment where they had information that there were multiple perpetrators, and every window and classroom was potentially life-threatening.
"Risks you take"
The book "After the Shots" also criticizes how two of the victims' families were treated by the police afterwards. According to Sundkvist, the treatment was characterized by inaccessibility, broken promises and outright lies. The families have filed a complaint with the Ombudsman against the police.
"We accept that there is that perception, and we can understand that, based on the immense tragedy of this case, there is a legitimate need to know as much as possible," says Niclas Hallgren.
The police's ambition has been to be as transparent as possible, according to Hallgren.
If any information provided along the way has not subsequently been proven to be correct, we regret it, but it is a risk you take when you share information before we have reached a final result.
