Emergency personnel and police officers at the scene (TT News Agency via Reuters: Kicki Nilsson)
In short:
At least 10 people have been killed in a school shooting in the Swedish city of Orebro, police have confirmed.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said it was "the worst mass shooting in Swedish history".
Police believe the gunman was among the victims and that he acted alone. His motive for the attack was not immediately clear.
At least 10 people have been killed in a school shooting in Sweden, which the country's prime minister condemned as a "brutal" attack.
Police believe the gunman was among the dead and that he acted alone.
The deadly attack unfolded shortly before 1pm on Tuesday, local time, at Campus Risbergska, in Orebro, a city 200 kilometres west of Stockholm.
The shooting took place in a campus area where several schools, for both children and adults, are located.
Students were forced to hide beneath their desks and flee from the school to safety when the gunman struck.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said, during a press conference: "Today, we have witnessed brutal, deadly violence against completely innocent people.
"This is the worst mass shooting in Swedish history."
Police have not classed the shooting as terrorism but said the gunman's motive was unclear.
"We know that 10 or so people have been killed here today," local police chief Roberto Eid Forest told reporters.
"The reason that we can't be more exact currently is that the extent of the incident is so large.
"When it comes to saying anything more about the perpetrator, it is still very early," he said.
A police helicopter monitors a major police operation underway at Campus Risbergska. (TT News Agency via Reuters: Kicki Nilsson)
Maria Pegado, 54, a teacher at the school, said someone threw open the door to her classroom just after lunch break and shouted to everyone to get out.
"I took all my 15 students out into the hallway and we started running," she told Reuters by phone. "Then I heard two shots but we made it out. We were close to the school entrance.
"I saw people dragging injured out, first one, then another. I realised it was very serious," she said.
'Three bangs and loud screams'
A spokesman told a news conference that police officers first at the scene were met with smoke.
Students were forced to shelter in nearby buildings during the attack. Other parts of the school were swiftly evacuated.
Andreas Sundling, 28, was among those forced to barricade themselves inside the school.
"We heard three bangs and loud screams," he told Expressen newspaper while sheltering in a classroom.
"Now we're sitting here waiting to be evacuated from the school. The information we have received is that we should sit and wait."
Police said that no officers were shot during the violence.
The school serves students who are over age 20, according to its website.
Primary and upper secondary school courses are offered, as well as Swedish classes for immigrants, vocational training and programs for people with intellectual disabilities.
Sweden has been struggling with a wave of shootings and bombings caused by an endemic gang crime problem, though fatal attacks at schools are still rare.
Ten people were killed in seven incidents of deadly violence at schools between 2010 and 2022 according to the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention.
In one of the most high-profile in the past decade, a 21-year-old masked assailant, driven by racist motives, killed a teaching assistant and a boy while wounding two others in 2015.
