On 22 October 2015, a mass stabbing occurred at Kronan School, a

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

in Trollhättan, Sweden. 21-year-old Anton Lundin Pettersson killed three people and injured another with a sword, later dying from gunshot wounds sustained during his apprehension. The initial police investigation concluded that Pettersson was motivated by

opposition to immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, has become a significant political ideology in many countries. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory ...

and had chosen the school as his target due to its location in a neighbourhood with a high immigrant population.

Background

The city of Trollhättan has a history of previous

hate crime A hate crime (also known as a bias-motivated crime or bias crime) is a prejudice-motivated crime which occurs when a perpetrator targets a victim because of their membership (or perceived membership) of a certain social group or racial demograph ...

s, including an

arson attack Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, water ...

at a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

in the 1990s. It has been described as the most ethnically segregated city in Sweden.

Stabbing

Pettersson entered Kronan at 10:06, wearing black clothing, a cape, a Stahlhelm-style helmet and a

paintball mask Paintball is a competitive team shooting sport in which players eliminate opponents from play by hitting them with spherical dye-filled gelatin capsules called paintballs that break upon impact. Paintballs are usually shot using low-energy ...

. At first, eyewitnesses believed Pettersson's presence to be a

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

prank. Media outlets compared Pettersson's appearance to the appearance of Darth Vader, a fictional character in the film franchise ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

''. 20-year-old teaching assistant Lavin Eskandar confronted Pettersson, who immediately stabbed him. Eskandar died at the scene. Pettersson then stabbed a 15-year old Somali student, Ahmed Hassan, who died from his injuries later in the hospital. Pettersson then stabbed a 15-year-old unnamed Syrian student, who survived his injuries. Whilst wandering the halls, two students encountered Pettersson and, believing his presence to be a Halloween prank, posed with him and took a picture. Niclas Hallgren, the city's police chief, said that Pettersson spared them due to them having white skin. Shortly after, a 42-year-old teacher, Nazir Amso, confronted Pettersson and demanded he remove his mask. Petterson then charged at Amso and stabbed him. Amso died of his injuries six weeks later in hospital on 3 December. Shortly before 10:16, police officers arrived at the scene, ten minutes after Petterson arrived at the school. Pettersson reportedly charged at police and was shot in the abdomen, later dying from his injuries in hospital.

Perpetrator

Anton Niclas Lundin Pettersson (22 June 199422 October 2015) was identified as the attacker by ''

Expressen ''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue". ...

''. Pettersson had no criminal record and was not a member of any political organisation, but had supported a petition by the

Sweden Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( sv , Sverigedemokraterna ; SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden. As of 2022, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing governing bloc to which it provides confidence and supply, a ...

to initiate a referendum on immigration. According to ''

Aftonbladet ''Aftonbladet'' (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lars Johan H ...

'', Pettersson had visited

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

and extremist websites supporting Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany and had also joined a Facebook group that opposed immigration to Sweden. The Swedish Security Service was called in to investigate these findings. Pettersson lived in an apartment building far away from Kronan but chose to attack the school due to it being in Kronogården, a town with a high immigrant population; police cited this as more evidence towards his motive. Former classmates described Pettersson as a lonely person who "lived in his own world" and dressed in black clothing influenced by the

emo Emo is a rock music genre characterized by emotional, often confessional lyrics. It emerged as a style of and hardcore punk from the Washington D.C. hardcore punk scene, where it was known as emotional hardcore or emocore and pioneered b ...

or rock scene. Bjørn Ihler, a survivor of the

2011 Norway attacks The 2011 Norway attacks, referred to in Norway as 22 July ( no, 22. juli) or as 22/7, were two domestic terrorist attacks by neo-Nazi Anders Behring Breivik against the government, the civilian population, and a Workers' Youth League (AUF) ...

, wrote in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' that in 2013, Pettersson had liked a

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

video of former

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

leader Johnny Lee Clary testifying how a positive experience with a black man had caused him to disavow his previously-held racist beliefs. He was also said to have interacted with online content that demeaned women and religious people.

Self-harm Self-harm is intentional behavior that is considered harmful to oneself. This is most commonly regarded as direct injury of one's own skin tissues usually without a suicidal intention. Other terms such as cutting, self-injury and self-mutilatio ...

scars were found on his arms, and it was later revealed that he had completed an online test for depression, along with watching videos of people committing suicide. He had saving material surrounding hopelessness, being misunderstood,

self-hatred Self-hatred is personal self-loathing or hatred of oneself, or low self-esteem which may lead to self-harm. In psychology and psychiatry The term "self-hatred" is used infrequently by psychologists and psychiatrists, who would usually describe ...

, violence, and death, along with material suggesting he was uncertain about his

sexual identity Sexual identity is how one thinks of oneself in terms of to whom one is romantically and/or sexually attracted.
''Sex ...

Aftermath and reactions

On the morning of 23 October, a day after the attack, Swedish police and media confirmed that the attack had "racist motives" and that it was a "hate crime". Niclas Hallgren, the city's police chief, stated that all of the victims of the attack were "dark-skinned". Head of Investigation, Thord Haraldsson said that CCTV footage showed that Pettersson spared the lives of students with white skin. The initial police investigation concluded that Pettersson was motivated by

and had chosen the school as his target due to its location in a neighbourhood with a high immigrant population. After the news of the attack, Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven travelled to Trollhättan, calling it a "black day" for the country. Minister for Integration Anders Ygeman wrote on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

: "It is with sadness and dismay I received the news of the attack on the school in Trollhättan. My thoughts go to the victims and their families". King

Carl XVI Gustaf Carl XVI Gustaf (Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus; born 30 April 1946) is King of Sweden. He ascended the throne on the death of his grandfather, Gustaf VI Adolf, on 15 September 1973. He is the youngest child and only son of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Du ...

said that the

royal family A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...

received the news "with great dismay and sadness". During the days leading up to Halloween, there were reports of people wearing suspicious outfits or brandishing weapons, which were discovered to be people celebrating Halloween. The police warned the public not to carry imitation weapons with their Halloween costumes, to avoid potentially dangerous misunderstandings. Kronan school remained closed until 2 November, when it reopened with higher security. On 29 September 2017, a book about the attack was published, ' (). The book contained information about the attack previously unavailable to the public, including a message Pettersson sent to an online friend before the attack that the Pettersson family did not know about. The author, , spoke to the brother of Pettersson. Erlandsson won the

Stora Journalistpriset Stora Journalistpriset ("The Swedish Grand Prize for Journalism") is an annual Swedish award, founded in 1966 by Bonnier AB, given to "recognize achievement in journalism". The prize money is SEK 100,000 and is awarded in four categories: * Sc ...

for the book. On 15 March 2019, two consecutive mass shootings occurred in a terrorist attack on two mosques in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

, New Zealand, where 51 people were killed and 40 others were injured. The perpetrator behind the shootings mentioned Pettersson in his manifesto and declared his support for him, in addition to writing Petterson's name on one of his guns.

Background

Stabbing

Perpetrator

Aftermath and reactions

Notes

References

Further reading