Deadly truck crash called act of terrorism
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 traveled for more than 500 yards along a promenade known as the Drottninggatan and smashed into a crowd outside the Ahlens department store about 3 p.m. It came to rest in the entrance to the building. TV footage showed smoke coming out of the store after the crash.
“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 Dagens Nyheter. “I heard how some women were screaming, ‘Run, run!’”
Although there was confusion throughout the day on the number of victims, the Stockholm City Council said in the evening that four had been killed and 15 were wounded, nine seriously.
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 said the person looked like the man depicted wearing a greenish hood in a surveillance camera photo the police released earlier.
The truck crash appeared to be the latest attack in Europe using a vehicle.
In an attack last month claimed by the Islamic State group, a man drove into a crowd on London’s Westminster Bridge, killing three people and injuring many others before stabbing a policeman to death. He was shot and killed by police. A fourth person, a woman thrown into the Thames by the force of the car attack, died Thursday.
The IS group also claimed responsibility for a truck attack that killed 86 people in Nice, France, in July 2016 during a Bastille Day festival, as well as another truck attack that killed 12 people at a Christmas market in Berlin.