Terrorist drives truck into store
STOCKHOLM — A hijacked beer truck plowed into pedestrians at a central Stockholm department store Friday, killing four people, injuring 15 and sending screaming shoppers scattering in panic 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 the main train station was evacuated.
“Sweden has been attacked,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in a nationally televised press conference. “This indicates that it is an act of terror.”
He added: “The country is in a state of shock.”
The truck travelled for more than 450 metres along a promenade and smashed into a crowd outside the Ahlens department store about 3 p.m. local time.
“People were screaming and running in all directions,” said Brandon Sekitto, who was in his car nearby. He added that the truck “drove straight into the Ahlens entrance.”
“I saw the driver, a man in black who was light around the face area,” Brandon told Swedish daily
“I heard how some women were screaming, ‘Run, run!’ ”
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 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.”
The Swedish brewery Spendrups said one of its trucks had been hijacked a few blocks from the scene earlier in the day.
The beer company’s truck driver was not injured, Spendrups spokesman Marten Luth said.