Shorouk Express
A Syrian refugee who fled the war in 2015 has been named as one of the victims of the Örebro school massacre.
Sweden is reeling in the wake of its worst ever mass shooting. A gunman killed ten people in a rampage at Risbergska School on Tuesday before shooting himself, police say.
Authorities described an “inferno” with “dead people and injured people, screams and smoke” when they arrived on the scene five minutes after an emergency call.
Rickard Andersson, the 35-year-old suspect named by Swedish media and a police source, was a recluse who had little contact with the outside world.
open image in gallery
Police have yet to share a motive for the killings but on Thursday investigators said the victims hail from “different nationalities, different genders and different ages”.
While the full list of victims is not known, it is already clear that several members of the Assyrian community were among those caught up in the attack.
Both the Syrian and Bosnian embassies revealed that their citizens were killed, and the identities of the deceased are now emerging.
The Risbergska adult education centre offers adult courses and Swedish language classes for immigrants.
Here’s everything we know about the victims of the Sweden school shooting.
Salim Iskef, soon-to-be-married Syrian refugee
open image in gallery
Salim Iskef, 29, was the first victim of the horror shooting to be named.
The 29-year-old, one of about 5,000 Christian Assyrians in Orebro, fled the Islamic State and Syria 10 years ago to form a better, more secure life in Sweden, only to be gunned down this week in the worst mass-shooting in Swedish history.
After Mr Iskef was shot, he phoned his fiancee, who he was due to marry in June, as well as his mother to tell them both that he loved them as battled with his wounds. That was the last they heard from him.
“His fiancee is totally destroyed,” Jacob Kaselia, a friend of the family and priest at St Mary’s church in Orebro, told Reuters after leading a memorial service for Mr Iskef in front of about 400 people on Thursday. “We try to help her, but honestly, it’s very hard.”
Mr Iskef, an Orthodox Christian, was due to get married in the summer and had recently bought a house with his fiancee. He became a citizen and trained in healthcare, working in elderly care alongside his studies.
“He was a very kind person. He had no problems with anyone. He just wanted to finish his studies. And now he’s gone… I can’t believe it. Is this for real?” his grieving aunt Nadia Deeb told Alkompis.
open image in gallery
“He had so many beautiful plans and so many beautiful dreams,” Mr Kaselia said. “All gone in a second.”
“There are only three of his in the family since the father died. Now we have lost Salim too. He was our light,” his aunt added.
Merwa, who was a close friend of Mr Iskef and went to school with him every day, was shot at by the gunman. She was unharmed and used her friend’s scarf to try to stop the bleeding of a man who was shot in front of her.
“We’re still in shock. We didn’t think this could happen in Sweden, and especially in school,” she said, adding it is unlikely that she will go back to school. “I really don’t think so.”
One Bosnian among the dead
The Bosnian foreign ministry announced on X on Thursday that one of its citizens was among the dead.
Another citizen was wounded in the attack, the foreign ministry was told by its embassy in Sweden – who had been contacted by the families of the victims.
The embassy added that it is in “constant contact” with Swedish authorities considering the “large BiH [Bosnia and Herzegovina] community in this city”.
It expressed its “deepest condolences” to the families of the attack.
