Death Toll Rises to 4 in Sweden Attack; 1 Arrested

It's not clear whether police are still looking for other suspects
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Apr 7, 2017 4:07 PM CDT
1 Arrested in Sweden Attack as Death Toll Rises to 4
Blood is smeared on the street at the scene after a truck crashed into a department store injuring several people in central Stockholm, Sweden, Friday April 7, 2017.   (Rose-Marie Otter)

The death toll has been raised to four people in the attack on pedestrians at a central Stockholm department store Friday, the AP reports. Fifteen were injured, nine of them seriously, when a hijacked beer truck plowed into pedestrians in what Sweden's prime minister called a terrorist attack. A nationwide manhunt was launched and one person was arrested following the latest use of a vehicle as a weapon in Europe. Nearby buildings were locked down for hours in the heart of the capital and authorities evacuated the nearby Central Station, a hub for regional trains and the subway system. All trains to and from the main station were halted and several large shopping malls in Stockholm were shut down. Sweden's national theater, Dramaten, canceled three performances Friday evening.

Police arrested a man in Marsta, a northern Stockholm suburb close to the international airport. "We have arrested one in whom we are particularly interested," Jan Evensson of the Stockholm police told a news conference. He says the man was "in the vicinity" of the truck crash and was spotted by a police patrol. Evensson said the person looked like the man depicted wearing a greenish hood in a surveillance camera photo the police released earlier. "We continue to investigate at full force," Evensson said, urging people not to go to central Stockholm. Stefan Hector of Sweden's national police said the working hypothesis was that "this is an act of terror." (More Sweden stories.)

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