"This is a terrible event. This is exceptional, a nightmare," Örebro police district chief Roberto Eid Forest told reporters about the shooting at the Campus Risbergska adult education centre.
Sweden's prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, told a press conference later in the evening, that it was "the worst mass shooting in Swedish history".
"The suspected assailant is not known to police," he added. "He has no connection to any gang," Forest said.
Police confirmed early on Wednesday morning, just after midnight, that eleven people were killed in the attack, with the perpetrator believed to be among the dead. Police press spokesperson Fredrik Svedemyr told SVT that it's possible the number of fatalities may rise.
"We don't have a complete picture at the moment of the number of injuries, and since we don't have any details on the status of those who are being treated in hospital, there's unfortunately a risk that the number does not stop at eleven," he said.
School attacks are relatively rare in Sweden, but the country has suffered shootings and bombings linked to gang violence that kill dozens of people each year.
Örebro police chief Roberto Eid Forest would not confirm or deny during a press conference at 10am on Wednesday that the perpetrator had a weapons license or discuss the type of weapon or weapons used in the attack. He did confirm, however, that police heard shots when they arrived and that the perpetrator was dead by the time they reached him.
"We cannot confirm [that he shot himself], although there is a lot of evidence suggesting that this is the case," he said. He confirmed in a later interview with SVT that police had not fired any shots.
- SEE ALSO: What do we know about the Örebro gunman?
At the same press conference, police provided new details about the six people being treated in hospital, saying four were women and two men, all of them over the age of 18.
Forest said that there was "no new information" on the number of dead or wounded. He also said that police were still working to identify all of the fatalities.
He encouraged anyone who had been at the school on Tuesday to contact police on 114 14.
Police: Don't spread rumours
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson noted on Tuesday evening that a lot of "questions were still unanswered".
"But there will come a time when we will know what happened, how it could happen and what motives may have been behind it," Kristersson said, urging people not to "speculate".
Police press spokesperson Frederik Svedemyr told SVT on Wednesday morning that there are no signs of an "ideological motive". He added that incorrect information is being spread about the shooting and motives behind it on social media, and urged the public to only trust official information from the police.
Swedish police said they believed the gunman acted alone but did not rule out they had accomplices. The motive was not known at this stage.
Police received the first reports of a school shooting at 12.33pm, but could not specify how it unfolded.
The attacker is also believed to have carried some form of equipment to create smoke inside the school, Forest said.
Two Campus Risbergska teachers, Miriam Järlevall and Patrik Söderman, told newspaper Dagens Nyheter they heard gunfire in a hallway.
"Students came and said someone was shooting. Then we heard more shooting in the hallway. We didn't go out, we hid in our offices," they said.
"There were a lot of gunshots at first and then it was quiet for a half-hour and then it started again. We were lying under our desks, cowering."
Some witnesses told Swedish media they heard what they believed to be automatic gunfire.
Swedish television channel TV4 meanwhile reported that police had raided the suspect's home in Örebro late on Tuesday afternoon.
It said the suspect was around 35 years old and had a license to carry a weapon and no criminal record, but did not provide any details about his identity.
Police have not confirmed that information.
Churches in Örebro and the local mosque were open on Wednesday to provide support to the community.
Schools in lockdown
Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf said he had received the news of the shooting with "sadness and dismay."
"Tonight we send our condolences to the families and friends of the deceased. Our thoughts at this time are also with the injured and their families, as well as others affected," the king said in a statement published by the palace.
Students in several nearby schools as well as the one in question had been locked in for several hours "for safety reasons" before gradually being released, police said.
A mother whose son was kept indoors at his nearby school for several hours during the police operation told AFP she was "shocked" and "angry".
"My son is at this school behind us, they're locked in too. They have to hide, so I'm waiting for them to evacuate," Cia Sandell, 42, said on Tuesday afternoon.
"This is crazy, totally crazy. I'm angry, I'm shocked. This shouldn't happen," she said.
Though such shootings are rare, several other violent incidents have struck Swedish schools in recent years.
In March 2022, an 18-year-old student stabbed two teachers to death at a secondary school in the southern city of Malmo.
Two months earlier, a 16-year-old was arrested after wounding another student and a teacher with a knife at a school in the small town of Kristianstad.
In October 2015, three people were killed in a racially motivated attack at a school in the western town of Trollhattan by a sword-wielding assailant who was later killed by police.
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