A knife-wielding masked man stabbed four people Thursday at a school in southern Sweden, killing a teacher and a student before being shot dead by police, authorities said. One student thought the man had something to do with Halloween. 
 
 Students fled from the Kronan school in Trollhattan, near Goteborg, Sweden's second-largest city, as the attack took place in a nearby cafe just after 10 a.m., police said. The school has 400 students ranging from pre-school to high school. 
 
 Police arrived to find one male teacher already dead and three other people seriously wounded - two male students aged 11 and 15 and another male teacher, police spokesman Thomas Fuxborg told The Associated Press. Police fired two shots, one of which hit the attacker, he said. 
 
 One student and the attacker died later at the hospital, authorities said. 
 
 The attacker, a 21-year-old from Trollhattan, knocked on the doors to two classrooms and stabbed those who opened them, police spokesman Thord Haraldsson told a press conference. He said the man had "sharp stabbing weapons," which another police official told the AP may have included a sword. 
 
 Police searched the attacker's home and found "interesting" things, Haraldsson added, without elaborating. 
 
 Police spokesman Stefan Gustavsson said authorities knew the attacker had killed the teacher "because of the wounds he had." 
 
 Laith Alazze, a 14 year-old student at Kronan, said at first he thought the attacker - who was clad in black and wearing a mask - had something to do with Halloween. 
 
 "One of my friends walked over to him to challenge him, but when we saw he stabbed him (the teacher), we ran away," Alazze told Sweden's TV4. 
 
 The attacker had gunshot wounds to his lower chest and died later Thursday at the hospital, officials said. 
 
 Police spokeswoman Maria Randsalu said the second victim was a student, but did not say which one. 
 
 The three wounded, all in serious condition, underwent surgery at the Norra Alvsborgs Lanssjukhus hospital. Dr. Lars Spetz told reporters the teacher had been stabbed in the abdomen while the two students were stabbed in the abdomen, liver and chest. 
 
 "They hover between life and death," Spetz said. 
 
 Swedish media said the school held a meeting Thursday morning to discuss teachers' fears that they could not control access to the school. The Dagens Nyheter newspaper said students must go through a public cafe to reach the school's cafeteria and other parts of the building. 
 
 Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven, who went to the scene, described Thursday as a "black day." 
 
 "My thoughts go out to the victims and their families, the students and staff, and the whole community that has been affected," Lofven said. "No words can describe what they are going through right now." 
 
 King Carl XVI Gustaf said Sweden was "in shock" following the attack and that the royal family received the news "with great dismay and sadness." ||||| Image copyright AFP Image caption The suspect apparently posed for photos with pupils ahead of the attack 
 
 A masked man armed with a sword has killed a pupil and a teacher at a school in Sweden. 
 
 The suspect, clad in black, apparently posed for photos with students ahead of the attack, in the western town of Trollhattan. 
 
 Two further victims, a pupil and a teacher, are seriously injured. The attacker was shot by police and has died of his injuries. He was 21 and resident in Trollhattan, police said. 
 
 The king has said Sweden "is in shock". 
 
 Eyewitnesses described chaos at the school, with hundreds of students fleeing from the building screaming. 
 
 Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Maddy Savage, an editor at The Local Sweden, says police are looking into claims that the attacker had links with the far right in Sweden 
 
 Police responded to an emergency call reporting an attack in the cafe area of the Kronan school, at around 10:10 local time (08:10 GMT) on Thursday. 
 
 Arriving at the scene, they found a dead man - a teacher - near the entrance. 
 
 Two male students and another teacher were rushed to hospital. One of the boys, aged 17, has since died of his injuries. 
 
 The other pupil, who is 15, and the teacher, a 41-year-old man, are being treated in intensive care for knife injuries. Their condition is described as serious but stable by the hospital. 
 
 The attacker was also taken to hospital with gunshot wounds and has since died. 
 
 Police have said several knives were used in the attack. 
 
 Officers have identified the suspect but not released his name. They have searched the suspect's home and have found "interesting" things, spokesman Thord Haraldsson told a news conference. 
 
 He was not previously known to police, he said. 
 
 Asked about possible links to far-right extremism, Mr Haraldsson refused to comment, Swedish radio reports. 
 
 Local media have reported that the suspect's accounts on Facebook and YouTube suggest an interest in Hitler and Nazi Germany. In a photo given to media by a student at the school, he appears to be wearing a black trench coat and a helmet resembling those worn by German troops in World War Two. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption The school has around 400 children from kindergarten up till the age of 16 
 
 Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet published an account (in Swedish) of a girl, who they refer to as Sara, who witnessed the attack. 
 
 The girl left her classroom and met two school friends who stood with a masked man holding a bloody knife, she said. He was playing "horrible, Halloween-type" music and did not speak, she said. 
 
 Her friends thought it was a joke and wanted to be photographed with the man, so Sara took a photo, Aftonbladet reports. 
 
 A teacher came out and asked the man what he was doing, the girl said. 
 
 "You're scaring the children, you can go," the teacher said. 
 
 The man just nodded then stabbed the teacher in the side with his knife, Sara said. 
 
 She and her friends ran. The man chased them but they managed to escape. 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Sweden's PM Stefan Lofven visited the school on Thursday afternoon 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption Candles were lit outside the school to commemorate the victims 
 
 Image copyright AFP Image caption There was confusion at the school in the aftermath of the attack 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Police have searched the house where the suspected attacker lived 
 
 King Carl Gustaf said in a statement that he had learned of the events in Trollhattan "with great dismay and sorrow". 
 
 Sweden's Prime Minister Stefan Lofven has arrived in the town, and said it was a "black day for Sweden". 
 
 "I think of the victims and their families, students and staff, and the whole of the affected community. No words can describe what they are going through right now. We must ensure that they receive all the support they need," he said. 
 
 Trollhattan is an industrial town in west Sweden, located around 75km (50 miles) north of Gothenburg, the nation's second largest city. 
 
 School attacks are rare in Sweden - with just one incident on record in the past 20 years, in which one pupil was shot dead. ||||| 21-year-old suspect confirmed dead 
 
 Teenage student and teacher dead and another pupil and teacher being treated in hospital 
 
 'If I had not run, I would have been murdered,' student tells The Local 
 
 PM Stefan Löfven: 'A dark day for Sweden' The attack took place on Thursday morning at the school, around 75km from Gothenburg, after a man wearing a mask walked into a building on the premises wielding "several knife-like objects", police said. One male teacher, 20, died following the incident, along with a pupil, whose age was confirmed by police in the evening as 17, despite initial statements suggesting he was 11. A 21-year-old suspect was confirmed dead just after 4pm, with officials adding that they did not think that anyone else was involved. Another teacher and an older pupil are understood to remain in hospital. 
 
 "The assailant knocked on two classroom doors and he attacked the two students who opened the doors," police investigator Thord Haraldsson told a press conference in Trollhättan. 
 
 He said that officers called to the scene had fired two shots, with one of them hitting the assailant, after the suspect had first attempted to attack the police. 
 
 Haraldsson said if the police hadn't reacted as quickly as they did, the situation could have been much worse. Pre-school children had been visiting the school's library earlier in the day. 
 
 Some pupils have described how they initially thought the man's appearance was a prank. 
 
 "When we first saw him, we thought it was a joke. He was wearing a mask and black clothes and (carrying) a long sword. Some students wanted to take their picture with him and feel the sword," one unidentified pupil told TT. 
 
 A picture reported to be of the alleged attacker was circulating in Swedish media on Thursday afternoon. 
 
 Här är Saras bild på skolmördaren: ”Han sa inte ett ord” https://t.co/x33HVlaPKs pic.twitter.com/dcRw8Ka0vE — Aftonbladet (@Aftonbladet) October 22, 2015 
 
 The scene outside the school shortly after the attacks. Photo: Mikael Svantesson. ||||| Story highlights Police spokeswoman says authorities are looking at possible links to right-wing groups 
 
 Attacker, shot by police, dies at hospital 
 
 A teacher and student were killed; another student and another teacher were injured 
 
 (CNN) A masked man wielding a sword or a knife killed a teacher and a student in an attack Thursday at a school in Trollhattan, Sweden, before police fatally shot him, authorities said. 
 
 Two others -- another teacher and student -- were wounded in the attack on the Kronan primary and middle school. The injured were reported to be in serious condition at the hospital in Trollhattan, hospital officials said. 
 
 "This is a dark day for Sweden," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said. "My thoughts go out to the victims and their families, pupils and staff, and the entire community that has been affected. There are no words to describe what they are going through right now." 
 
 Law enforcement officials said police shot the suspect at the scene and he died later at the hospital. 
 
 Posing with students before attack? 
 
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– A teacher and a student were killed and another student and teacher were seriously injured in a sword attack at a school in the Swedish town of Trollhattan on Thursday, before the assailant was shot by police and taken to a hospital. Police say a masked man in his 20s used "several knife-like objects" as weapons in the cafe area of the Kronan school around 10am, per the Local and CNN. Two boys, 11 and 15, suffered serious stab wounds; one of them died later in the hospital, while the teacher died at the scene, per the BBC. A hospital rep adds the attacker "is seriously injured and is being operated on." The scene outside the school is still chaotic, where "parents are running around to find their children," says a witness. "I can't understand why it happened here." A student tells the Local, "I was in a classroom with my class when one of my classmates' sisters called her to warn her that there was a murderer at the school." He says he and a few others left the classroom to warn their teacher, who was in the hallway. "Then I saw the murderer, he was wearing a mask and had a sword. Our teacher got stabbed," he says. "The murderer started chasing me, I ran into another classroom. If I had not run, I would have been murdered." Earlier in the day, the school held a meeting based on teachers' concerns that anyone could gain access to the school through the entrance to the cafe, which is reportedly attached to the school and is meant for adults, per CBS News. There are about 400 students at the school, aged 6 to 15.