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Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said, at a press conference in Stockholm, that everything indicates that the gunman attacked Swedish citizens simply because they are Swedish. According to the Prime Minister, the third victim was seriously injured in hospital.

Kristersson says he wants to defend democracy and an open society, but more efforts are needed to protect Swedish lives and Swedish interests, such as improving border controls in the EU and Sweden. “I understand that many Swedes are angry and worried,” Kristersson said. “This is the time for more safety, for more caution, for more vigilance. We simply cannot be naive.

At a press conference in Belgium, Nicole De Moors, Belgian Minister of State for Asylum and Immigration, announced this morning that the suspect, Abdel Salam L. He applied for asylum in Belgium in November 2019, after which his application was rejected and he disappeared from the country. radar.

Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson says the 45-year-old perpetrator has resided in Sweden “occasionally” in recent years. He was not on the radar of the Swedish intelligence services.

The Prime Minister announced that the authorities will take stricter measures against immigrants who have not obtained a residence permit and are not allowed to stay in Sweden. “If they are not allowed to be here, they must leave Sweden immediately.”

Scandinavia correspondent Jeroen Visser