Man with knife attacked Reinfeldt bodyguard

A 24-year-old man armed with a knife attacked a bodyguard outside the government offices of Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt at Rosenbad in central Stockholm, according to a report in the Aftonbladet newspaper.

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“I was going to shoot the guards and get into the castle and shoot the king," the attacker said in the police car on the way to the station, according to the paper.

The man, who had arrived in Sweden from Brazil mere days before the August 6th incident, was caught on security camera footage published on Friday on Aftonbladet's website.

Aftonbladet footage of the attack (in Swedish)


In the sequence, he can seen walking down the street outside the government offices in central Stockholm.

Suddenly, seemingly out of the blue, the man rushes at a bodyguard who had been walking in the opposite direction and tries to overpower him. The two begin a struggle over the guard’s gun.

As the man and the guard continue to fight, a car pulls up and a 29-year-old builder, who happened to be trained in martial arts, jumps out to come to the aid of the struggling bodyguard.

“I just stopped the car and ran out, thinking I have got to get this guy off that guard,” said builder Peter Becker, according to Aftonbladet.

Becker managed to get the attacker off the guard and lock one of his arms behind his back.

“Then he gave up pretty quickly, he just went totally quiet and looked up at the sky,” said Becker to the paper.

Before the assailant had been overpowered, Becker’s colleague had managed to kick the attacker’s bayonet-shaped knife away from the struggling men.

The 24-year-old was brought into a bicycle storage room while they waited for police. When taken away, the confused man, who was reportedly frothing at the mouth, said his intention had been to get the gun so that he could “shoot the king”.

He upheld this intention in later interrogations, according to the paper. During the trial, which was held on August 24th, the man confessed to all allegations and will now undergo a psychiatric evaluation.

Shortly after the incident, security around the government offices was heightened.

TT/The Local/rm
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