School violence in Sweden: Lessons from the Örebro shooting & how to prevent future tragedies
On Tuesday 4th February 2025 in the city of Örebro, Sweden, 35-year-old Rickard Andersson brought two rifles and a shotgun, 200 rounds of ammunition and three smoke grenades to a community college to brutally murder and seriously injure a total of sixteen people before taking his own life. This event has deeply affected Sweden as a nation, leading to widespread grief and calls for action to improve community safety.
The Swedish police are still investigating a motive for the attack, and they expect it will be a long time before they can provide a reliable answer. This is partly because Rickard was found dead at the scene, partly because he has lived an isolated life and partly because it is still unclear how he acted online. However, while the school shooting appears to have been planned, as evidenced by Rickard’s purchase of ammunition and smoke grenades prior to the attack, the police currently believe that Rickard’s selection of victims was random rather than targeted. In addition, although most of the students at the college were of foreign origin, the police have not yet found any clear evidence of a racial or political motive. At this point, the only thing that clearly links Rickard to the community college is that he was enrolled there twice.
Rickard Andersson lived in a small studio apartment in Örebro and was often described as a loner by neighbours and others who lived nearby. Rickard’s classmates have stated that Rickard became shy and timid during middle school, and his high school teacher described him as one of the most difficult students she had ever worked with. The teacher said that Rickard was extremely socially awkward and that she never managed to have a dialogue with him. In addition, Rickard maintained an anonymous profile online, being very careful about leaving digital traces and used encrypted communications. Moreover, Rickard’s social welfare benefits were cut off a few years ago, on the grounds that he had not applied for enough jobs to receive such support. Recently, videos have surfaced of Rickard reading official letters about the withdrawal of his welfare benefits and requirements to declare his finances.
How often do school shootings occur?
The United States has the highest number of school shootings in the world, with approximately 1,375 documented incidents since 2000. In addition, the U.S. has seen a sharp increase in school shootings over the past 25 years. From about 37 annual school shootings in 2000-2010 to what appears to be about 300 annual shootings in 2021-2024. In Europe, school shootings are much less common, with approximately 15-20 incidents over the past 25 years. European countries that have experienced more than one school shooting during this period include Germany, Finland, France, and the Netherlands. Sweden has experienced a total of two school shootings. The recent Örebro incident in 2025 and a school shooting almost 65 years ago (1961).
Importantly, however, although school shootings occur almost 100 times more frequently in the United States than in Europe, the fatality rate per incident in the U.S. is relatively low (about 0.37 deaths per incident) compared to Europe (about 4-5 deaths per incident). While this suggests that school shootings are uncommon in Europe at this time, recent reports indicate a worrying increase in school violence across the continent.
Risks for school violence
Research shows that educational institutions today face a wide range of risks and threats, and that maintaining a productive campus security landscape is becoming increasingly complex. This is due in part to the changing social dynamics of our society (the patterns and processes by which people interact), rapid advances in technology, and growing geopolitical tensions, which unfortunately suggest that the motivations for school violence will become more diverse and more complex to predict. To further complicate matters, research has clearly shown that there is no psychological profile of those who perpetrate targeted school violence, including school shooters. However, there is a wide range of research that underscores that school shooters do show so-called “warning behaviors” prior to the attack: they (i) leak information about their plans; (ii) display a pathological fixation on a person or issue; (iii) tend to identify strongly with individuals who have previously committed mass murders; (iv) plan and research their crime; and (v) experience and communicate feelings of desperation and helplessness. There is also evidence that these actors often exhibit deviant and concerning behavior prior to the attack, such as stalking and harassment. They often struggle with mental health issues. Research identifies several other risk factors that should be considered when assessing a case of concerning behavior in schools or other organizations, such as: behavioral changes, social isolation, recent loss, excessive entitlement, and self-centered behavior.
How can school violence be prevented?
Because there is no psychological profile of a school shooter, relying on standardized risk behaviors and implementing generic interventions will not be sufficient to identify actors of violence. Instead, educational institutions are encouraged to establish Threat Assessment and Management (TAM) teams that can assess all types of threats, not just school shootings. The TAM team should be trained to follow a systematic process for gathering information about behavioral and psychological patterns that represent changes in behavior and may evidence an accelerating risk. The process includes, for example, enabling community engagement, creating a centralized awareness of active concerns, conducting longitudinal case reassessments, and conducting all of its practices in accordance with relevant laws (including privacy laws), policies, and standards of practice. In essence, a TAM team ensures that every student, employee, and other concerned party knows who to talk to if they have concerns or worries about social safety in the workplace.
Dantes has expertise in threat assessment and several years of experience in setting up, building and training Threat Assessment and Management teams, often referred to as “social safety expert teams” in the European context. Please contact us for more information on setting upThreat Assessment and Management Teams.
Simon Oleszkiewicz