Gunman shoots himself after police chase

A man who shot at his wife and her daughter, set alight to the family home and then fled from police in western Sweden on Friday morning, finally turned his hunting rifle on himself is now in hospital recovering from gun shot wounds.

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“It is a family-related incident,” said press spokesman Thomas Fuxborg to daily Dagens Nyheter (DN) on Friday morning.

Police received a call at 3.23am that a man in his sixties had fired shots against his wife and her adult daughter, before burning the family home to the ground and torching more than one car belonging to family members.

“A woman called and said that her husband has been shooting at her and her daughter. They have then escaped the house pursued by the man who tried to shoot them but who was unsuccessful,” Fuxborg told newspaper Aftonbladet.

Police took up the chase, hunting the man in vicinity of the property.

The police had information that the man was hiding in building on the property, which was confirmed when they heard a shot.

When police officers approached the building they found the man, who had sustained gunshot wounds to the torso but who showed signs of life.

H is reported to have been conscious when he was taken to the ambulance, which was already waiting at the scene.

The operation involved police officers from Gothenborg, Trollhättan and Uddevalla, according to the commanding officer Eine-Marie Ögrim.

The man was take under police escort to Northern Älvsborg county hospital in Trollhättan at 9.30am.

"He is being operated on now," said Bodil Järnerot at the hospital to the TT news agency at 10.30am.

"The doctors have assessed his condition as serious but stable."

The two women involved in the shooting incident have also been taken to hospital.

"They have been given crisis help, but have no physical injuries," Järnerot said.

It remained unclear at Friday lunchtime what had prompted the man to act in such a dramatic fashion.

“We simply don’t know. We have no idea what the motive is but something is obviously making him feel bad but we have yet to establish what that is,” Thomas Fuxborg told Aftonbladet.

According to the man’s wife he has never acted in such a threatening manner before.

TT/The Local/rm
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