2 men arrested in Sweden in knife attack that killed 2 people at Ikea store in central Sweden

HELSINKI – Police in Sweden arrested two men on suspicion of murder in a knife attack that killed a man and a woman at an Ikea store Monday in the central Swedish city of Vasteras, police and store officials said.

Vasteras police officer Per Agren, in charge of the investigation, said they had not found any connection between the suspected attackers and the victims or between the two attackers.

Describing the incident as “a mad event,” Agren told reporters that both men — one in his mid-30s, the other born in 1992 — were detained in the store and at a bus stop outside.

The male victim was dead at the scene, and the woman died later, police said.

The older perpetrator, who was seriously injured, was the chief suspect, Agren said at a news conference. He declined to comment on a possible motive pending the outcome of an investigation and gave no further details about the suspects or victims.

Sweden’s security police, responsible for investigating suspected terror cases, told national news agency TT they had no reason to be involved in the investigation based on the information they were given.

The attack in Vasteras, some 100 kilometres (60 miles) west of the capital Stockholm, occurred suddenly during an otherwise normal day in the kitchenware department of the store, said Martina Smedberg, spokeswoman for Ikea Group.

“We have no idea of a motive,” she said. “There have been no known threats against Ikea.”