Police do not disclose identities of suspects in attack in Västerås, Sweden, in which 55-year-old woman and her 28-year-old son died

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

One of two suspects in the knife attack at an Ikea store in Sweden on Monday that left two dead has denied involvement while the other is in critical condition, officials have said.

The two people killed in the attack on Monday in the central town of Västerås were a 55-year-old woman and her 28-year-old son, police said on Tuesday.



Deputy prosecutor general Eva Moren told reporters: “The two suspects are both from Eritrea. They have been living at an asylum centre,” she said, adding that the pair knew each other. “We know nothing about the motive yet, the investigation will have to determine that,” she said.

The suspects’ identities were not disclosed. It was not known how the wounded suspect sustained his injuries.

There were no indications the attack was terror-related and Swedish intelligence agency Sapo said it had not been called in on the case.

Västerås police chief Per Agren told reporters there were “no political overtones”.

Moren said police had uncovered “no connection between the suspects and the victims”.

Police investigators have recovered the suspected murder weapons from the scene, but Moren would not specify how many. “Knives have been found at the scene,” she said.

According to police sources quoted by regional daily VLT, “the suspects appear to have used knives from Ikea’s shelves”.

The Ikea branch in central Sweden where the two shoppers were fatally stabbed will temporarily stop knife sales, the store manager said on Tuesday.

“This is a decision I’ve taken and it is temporary,” store manager Mattias Johansson told news agency TT, adding that the store would reopen on Wednesday morning.

Moren said she would soon be reviewing video footage from the store’s many surveillance cameras and reading the witness accounts of the incident to get a clearer picture of what transpired. “The store was busy. There were a large number of people in the store,” Agren said.



The store, located in Västerås about 60 miles from Stockholm, was evacuated after the attack and remained closed on Tuesday until further notice.

Police increased security at asylum centres across Sweden, including at the centre where the two suspects resided in Arboga, 35 miles from Västerås.