A man has been arrested by authorities after a knife attack at a Swedish mall saw at least two people rushed to the hospital with serious injuries, according to local media.
The attack took place at around 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning at the Kvarteret Igor mall in Västerås, a city in central Sweden around 100 kilometers west of Stockholm.
Local police responded to the incident, cordoned off the crime scene, and now have one individual in custody, whose identity has not yet been reported.
Magnus Jansson Klarin, a police spokesman, confirmed that authorities do not suspect anyone else of being involved in the incident; they are not currently clear as to the motive for the attack or whether the assailant knew his victims. According to the Swedish news outlet Aftonbladet, authorities are treating the attack as attempted murder.
“It is clear that they used some form of sharp object, but I can not say exactly what,” Klarin told local media.
“We cannot rule out that more people have been injured. It has been blocked off, and there is a large police presence at the scene.
“The person was arrested fairly immediately, a few minutes after we received the alarm,” he added.
The victims, aged 45 and 54, remain in the emergency room at the local hospital, according to Region Västmanland. One is understood to have suffered life-threatening injuries, while the other is said to be in stable condition.
A major police operation is now underway at the Kvarteret Igor shopping mall, and the area remains closed to the public.
