Sweden school attack: killer Anton Lundin Pettersson glorified Nazis and targeted dark-skinned victims
Police found a handwritten letter in his apartment in Trollhättan, which showed he had planned the attack and expected it would be his final act.
A “suicide note” and the manner in which he picked out victims by the colour of their skin to be mercilessly cut down with his sword marked out the armed man who rampaged through a Swedish school on Thursday as a racist with Nazi sympathies, police have said.
The city of Trollhättan, where the attacks took place, was still in shock as hundreds of mourners gathered at the school on Friday evening to honour the dead, grieve – and express their anger.
On the same day that the government and the opposition announced plans to cope with an anticipated influx of 160,000 refugees in Sweden this year – making it harder for them to remain in the country – Swedes have been forced to question whether anti-immigrant sentiment is creating a breeding ground for violent racism.
On Friday night police confirmed that Anton Lundin Pettersson, 21, earlier identified by Swedish media as the culprit, was the attacker. His home was cordoned off on Thursday afternoon by dozens of police, who emptied the apartment.
We are convinced it was a hate crime with a racist perspective
“The perpetrator chose dark-skinned people, not white. We are convinced it was a hate crime with a racist perspective,” said Niclas Hallgren, chief of police in Trollhättan.