Sweden

One of Keys To Safer Schools.com associates in Sweden provided the following account of that nation’s first fatal school shooting. Bo Munthe is a School Safety Professional who has been raising the alarm in his native Sweden for some time. Unfortunately, his message has turned to prophecy as a 16 year old student in Jan, Sweden died at the hands of a gunman on school grounds on January 18 of this year. 

Bo writes:

About the school shooting. I will try do give you as much information I can about this;

It was around lunchtime the 18th of January, two boys, 17 and 19 were searching for another boy who owed them money (this has been officially confirmed afterwards). They did not find the boy, but they found his brother, a 16 year old student. The two boys who did the shooting apparently were not students but only visiting in the school. Obviously, something went completely wrong. The 16 year old boy was shot in the throat and died almost instantly. The killing happened at the schools toilet and there were many witnesses. The police arrested the two predators right after the shooting.

The reason for this shooting seems to be that the older brother to the victim had a debt for 5,000 SEK ($485) for some drug affair. This information was astounding for the people who lived in the neighborhood where the school is. It is a very high class ("posh") area. Most people do not see their area as something where crime will show its ugly face - but here it was, for the first time in Swedish history.

The police have found the gun that where used, it was a German, DWM pistol. No one knows where it came from.

We have a huge coming problem in Sweden now, with about 12,000 guns "running loose" on the streets. Many of them are coming from the east now.

My work as a School Safety Professional is NOT growing because of this - amazingly. Most of the people on top of the pyramid believe this incident was something that will not happen again. I know it will, but maybe I see it from another point of view.

Some days after this killing my son was threatened and harassed by a boy in his own class. I had to deal with that.

All the coverage about the shooting was enormous. But after the turmoil had slowed down, a knife stabbing in a student’s back was just a small note on one news magazine.

So Frank, this is what happens in Sweden. Things will be worse, sorry to say. We are not prepared for the huge mix of different races that come to our schools. Some schools are trying to prepare themselves, others don’t realize what is going on.

Bo

Bo Munthe

School Safety Professional

http://www.safeschoolseurope.info/webb%20SSE-ENG/bom2.htm

School violence is a global issue that starts with each one of us. We at Keys To Safer Schools.com are raising our voices, along with Bo and others around the world that "it" can and will happen in your school unless something is done. 

Take the self exam "Is your School a Safer School?" at  http://www.keystosaferschools.com/L.O.V.E.1.htm.   This is a simple set of questions which will help you as Superintendent, Board Member, Instructor or Student determine if your school has taken all of the precautions needed in today’s climate of violence.

Reported By:
Frank G. Green
Executive Director 
Keys To Safer Schools.com

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