Shattered glass and a broken door covered with police tape mark the entrance to the apartment where the reported suspect in Sweden’s worst mass shooting is believed to have lived as a recluse.
Rickard Andersson, 35, has been named by the Swedish national broadcaster and multiple media outlets, including Reuters, citing police sources, as the man who opened fire, killing 10 people and himself, at an adult education center in Örebro, Sweden.
Police said that the attacker was not known to them, that he was not connected to any gangs and that he was not believed to be acting based on ideological motives.
PJ Samuelsson has lived next door to Andersson since May last year but says he has never seen or even heard his neighbor.
He says he was in a state of shock after returning home on Tuesday and finding his quiet apartment block surrounded by heavily armed police.
He said he knows “nothing at all” about his neighbor Andersson. “I’ve only seen his name on the door, that’s the only thing,” describing it as “very unusual” because he says hello daily to his other neighbors in the small block.
He said he doesn’t know why his neighbor acted like a recluse but knowing he is the suspect is “terrible.” He said it’s a “disgusting” thought that he had weapons next door.
Andersson’s name and social security number matched the same address that was held on record by the Swedish tax agency.
Bergqvist told a news conference Thursday: “We have a perpetrator who was found inside the school and he was not known to us from before.
“He has a gun license for four guns and all these four guns have been confiscated. Three of those weapons were next to him when police secured him inside the building.”
Bergqvist added that “there is information that he is somehow connected to the school, that he may have attended this school before. But that is also something that we need to look deeper into to be able to fully confirm.”
She said the 10 victims of the killing have “different nationalities, different ages and different sex” and that no motive has been confirmed yet.
On Wednesday night, grief and shock were heavy in the air as a steady stream of mourners came to pay their respects at a candlelight vigil Wednesday night by the side of a busy road, next to a small housing estate and opposite the school where Tuesday’s events unfolded.
A dozen firefighters were among the crowd, standing in silence, their heads bowed.
“They came here to learn, not to die,” said Jenny Samuelsson, whose sister-in-law died in the shooting. She said she only learned the news of her family’s loss this afternoon, 24 hours after her sister-in-law, Camille, was killed.
Camille had been studying to become a nurse, according to Jenny. “They were here to help others, to learn. I have no words,” she said, choking on her emotion. “I can’t explain the hole I have in my heart. And why? There is no answer, so what question can I even ask?”
Hundreds of candles flickered in the cold night air. The young and the old arrived clutching white candles, ready to light them, along with flowers, and handwritten notes paying tribute to those killed in Tuesday’s massacre.
“You are in our hearts, rest in peace,” said one, written in Swedish. On another note, in English, read John Donne’s poem ‘No Man Is An Island.’
Two 17-year-old boys, who had been friends from primary school, stood arm in arm after bumping into each other at the vigil. They spoke of their shock over what happened, how they were forced to lock down in their high schools as the events played out. They came to show their support, they said.
The emotion was palpable. School shootings are rare in Sweden and there is real shock that the peace of this small Swedish city has been so violently shattered.