Swedish police identify 17-year-old girl as victim in school sword attack

By AFP and Reuters. Published On 22 Aug 202622 Aug 2026.

Key points

• Police say they have carried out regarding 80 interviews so far, with aims to question almost all of the school's roughly 450 staff members and students.
• The Brinell School's principal informed local media the 18-year-old suspect was a student there.
• Two boys, aged 12 and 17, were seriously wounded in the attack, one requiring emergency surgery.
• "The investigators are looking into various online communities which might have egged on the suspect to carry out the attack, " the Reuters source remarked.
• The person killed in this incident is a young 17-year-old female.

As her classmates and the country's political leaders gather to mourn her, swedish police have identified the victim of Friday's deadly sword attack at a Fagersta high school as a 17-year-old girl.

"The person killed in this incident is a young 17-year-old female. Her family has been informed, " police remarked on Saturday, declining to release further details. Local newspaper Fagersta-Posten documented that her parents confirmed the death.

Notably, the Brinell School's principal informed local media the 18-year-old suspect was a student there. He entered the building on Friday afternoon, just days after classes resumed from summer break, and was arrested at the scene of the attack.

Two boys, aged 12 and 17, were seriously wounded in the attack, one requiring emergency surgery. A third victim was treated for light injuries and has since gone home.

By Saturday morning, the scene outside Brinell had transformed into a memorial of candles, flowers and a steady stream of visitors, including Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and opposition leader Magdalena Andersson. This person travelled to Fagersta to pay their respects. Political parties nationwide paused campaigning ahead of September's election.

For context, an unnamed police source informed the Reuters news agency that investigators are looking into whether the suspect had ties to online communities that promote school violence.

Police are examining a TikTok account, taken down hours after the attack, that posted an image of a sword 20 minutes before it began and had previously featured videos referencing past school attacks in Sweden and Norwegian mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik.

Prosecutors have ordered the person held on suspicion of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder.

For context, the attack adds to a grim pattern. When a gunman killed 10 individuals in Orebro, and a 2015 sword attack in Trollhattan that killed three residents in what authorities called a racially motivated hate crime, sweden endured its deadliest school shooting last year.

Taken together, the developments around swedish police identify 17-year-old girl as victim in school sword attack point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.