Three people were killed in a shooting in the Swedish city of Uppsala today, and an investigation has been launched, police said, Reuters reports.
Police said they are investigating the shooting as a homicide and that there is no information at this time that the incident is a terrorist or hate crime.
"We have information that one person left the scene on an electric scooter. Whether this person is the perpetrator or a witness, or someone who has something to do with the incident, is unclear at this time," a police spokesman told Reuters.
Police said the victims had yet to be identified and declined to speculate on a motive for the killings.
Electric scooters have been used several times as a means of escape after gang conflicts in Sweden.
Uppsala, a city about 40 minutes by car from the capital Stockholm, has seen many gang-related shootings in the last decade, but usually outside the city center.
Swedish Justice Minister Gunnar Stromer said that the Ministry of Justice is in close contact with the police and is closely monitoring developments in the case.
"A brutal act of violence has occurred in the center of Uppsala. This is happening at a time when Walpurgis Night has begun in Uppsala. What happened is extremely serious," Stromer said in a statement.
Police earlier said they had received calls from citizens who heard gunshots in the city center and that emergency services had responded to the scene.
"It has been confirmed that three people have died following a shooting... Police are investigating the incident as a homicide," investigators said in a statement.
Witnesses told SVT television that they heard five gunshots and saw people in the area running for cover.
Several Swedish media outlets, including TT, reported that the shooting took place near or in a hair salon.
Ten people were killed in February in the Swedish city of Orebro in the country's deadliest ever mass shooting, in which a 35-year-old unemployed single man opened fire on students and teachers at an adult education center.
Sweden has suffered from a wave of gang-related violence for more than a decade, including an epidemic of violence.
The Nordic country's right-wing minority government came to power in 2022 on a promise to tackle gang violence. It has tightened laws and given more powers to the police, and after the shooting in Örebro, it said it would seek to tighten gun laws.
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