By Johan Ahlander
OREBRO, Sweden (Reuters) -Ten years ago, Salim Iskef fled Syria – where Islamic State militants had killed his father – for Sweden, only to be gunned down this week by an unemployed Swedish man with no apparent ideological motive.
The 29-year-old victim was one of several members of Sweden’s Syriac-speaking community caught up in Tuesday’s attack at an adult education school in Orebro, central Sweden – which left 11 people dead, including the attacker, and many injured.
He was due to get married in the summer and had recently bought a house with his fiancée.
“He had so many beautiful plans and so many beautiful dreams,” Jacob Kaselia, a friend of the family and priest at St. Mary’s church in Orebro, told Reuters after leading a memorial service for Iskef in front of about 400 people on Thursday. “All gone in a second.”
The Syriac-speaking community, a Christian group with roots in the Middle East, has almost 200,000 members in Sweden, of whom 5,000 live in Orebro, the leader of the Syriac centre in Orebro said.
Another Syriac speaker was among those hurt and two others told Reuters they were there when the gunman opened fire before apparently turning one of his weapons on himself.
Swedish police said people of various ages, genders and nationalities were killed and injured in the shooting, which they described as an ‘inferno’, but have not yet disclosed all their names.
The Risbergska adult education centre, where the attack took place, offers adult courses and Swedish language classes for immigrants. Police are investigating reports the attacker may have been a student at the school at some point.
After Iskef was shot, he called his mother and fiancée to tell them that he loved them. That was the last they heard from him.
“His fiancée is totally destroyed,” said Kaselia. “We try to help her, but honestly, it’s very hard.”
Iskef was from Aleppo in Syria, where the Syriac-speaking minority has been targeted by Islamic State jihadists during the civil war that began in 2011.
Sweden, although accustomed to gang violence, has not had school shootings on this scale before.
Merwa, who was a close friend of Iskef and went to school with him every day, was shot at by the gunman. She was unharmed and used her friend’s scarf to try to stop the bleeding of a man who was shot in front of her.
“We’re still in shock. We didn’t think this could happen in Sweden, and especially in school,” she told Reuters, adding it is unlikely that she will go back to school. “I really don’t think so,” she said.
Police said on Thursday they are yet to find a motive for the gunman, identified as Rickard Andersson by Reuters and Swedish media.
“Why did he do this? What was in his brain? We don’t know,” said priest Kaselia. “I feel sorry for him. We must pray that the Lord forgives him.”
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander and Jacub Stezcycki in Orebro; editing by Philippa Fletcher)
