Update: Police have arrested a suspect responsible for the terrorist attack that killed at least five people.
The man fled the scene after a shootout. He was captured after a five-hour manhunt in the north of the Swedish capital and confessed committing the terror attack, according to security sources who spoke to Aftonbladet.
The suspect was described as “lightly injured”. The police confirmed the arrest, saying “One person has been arrested who may be connected with the incident.”
Swedish Police also said they were questioning two other people, who were seen arrested in the street shortly after the terror attack, but noted that were not necessarily the suspects.
The authorities have confirmed that at least 5 people died in the attack and dozens are injured, some critically.
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A stolen truck rammed into a crowd of shoppers in Stockholm on Friday afternoon and three men opened fire and began stabbing pedestrians, leaving at least three dead and others injured in what police are calling a terrorist attack.
Some witnesses claim they saw the driver of the truck, which had been hijacked earlier in the day, wearing a balaclava. Police say so far nobody has been arrested.
A Swedish radio reporter claims to have seen at least five dead bodies, Aftonbladet reported. Swedish broadcaster SVT also reported that at least five people had died in the terror attack. But Swedish police stated that three people had died and eight had been injured.
Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven described the mid-afternoon mauling as a terror attack. “Sweden has been attacked,” he told reporters. “Everything indicates that this is a terrorist attack.”
In a televised statement earlier, the Prime Minister also said: “We are advising the public to be careful and to listen to police broadcasts.”
The terrorist attack in Stockholm happened in front of Athlens, a department store in the neighborhood of Klarabergsgatan. Armed men were seen running into Stockholm’s central railway station after the crash and opening fire. Reports suggest two people were stabbed. The police closed down the station.
The Local reported that the truck used in the attack was hijacked earlier in the day from the Swedish brewery company Spendrups. “During a delivery to the restaurant Caliente, someone jumped into the driver’s cabin and drove off with the car while the driver unloaded,” communications director Mårten Lyth told the TT news agency.
One eyewitness, Veronica Durango, 42, said she was just a few feet from being struck by the careening truck. “I could have died,” she told Swedish site Expressen.
Another eyewitness, Jan Granroth, told Aftonbladet that he was in a nearby shoe store when he heard the screams. “I looked out of the store and I saw a huge truck slamming into the wall opposite.”
Another witness said: “I went to the main street when a big truck came out of nowhere. I could not see if anyone was driving it but it got out of control. I saw at least two being run over. I ran as fast as I could from there.”
