Two men have been arrested in connection with a truck drive-by incident that happened at about 2 p.m. local time in Stockholm, Sweden.
What happened?
According to eyewitness reports, a man drove a truck straight into the crowd in the Swedish Capital on Friday.
Several witnesses say that the vehicle had been driven into the Drottninggatan market premeditatedly. “The truck did not swerve side to side as you would expect. It looked like the driver just wanted to hit people,” Glen Foran, an Australian tourist, told ABC News.
After driving through the crowded city market, the driver is said to have rammed the truck into the Ahlens Store near the Queen Street area. During his reckless interlude, the driver of the truck left four people dead and fifteen others injured. The injured were taken to nearby hospitals.
Pedestrians who were in the area during the time of the attack call the atmosphere at the time ‘chaotic’ and ‘frenzied.’ One witness said that he and several others with him had been worried that the truck would hit a nearby hot dog stunt and cause an explosion. “The only valid option left was running,” he added.
The streets were filled with people who were on the run toward their safety. Others were trying to perform CPR on victims lying on the ground following the wake of the truck. “There was smoke,” said Maria Nathalie to NBC, “and we could not see. We just followed a guy who helped us get out of the building.” Nathalie had been in the store when the truck drove into it.
The truck used in the incident belongs to Sprendups Brewery, a company that delivers beer in the area. The truck had been stolen during one of its rounds, the company stated. “It was parked outside of a restaurant when it was stolen and used in the unfortunate incident,” Marten Lyth, the spokesperson for the company notes in a statement released to the public.
After the event had occurred, the Swedish National Police released a description of the suspect eyewitnesses said had driven the truck. They stated that they were looking for a male in a green jacket and a hoodie, spotting a mustache and a beard.
The police locked down the area after the vehicle-enabled attack. The Central Street was closed, along with the metro, central roads, and several bus lines. The police were treating the attack as ‘terrorism-driven’ as the Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven confirmed it was.
Police brought in a suspect on Friday, hours after the attack had occurred. It was not clear whether the man whom they arrested in Marsta had been the one whose description the agency had put out. Jan Evensson, an investigator on the case, commented that the police were ‘just very interested in questioning’ the man in custody. Local news stations claimed the man is from Uzbekistan, but the police did not ratify this statement.
A second man was also arrested in Hjulsta and is alleged to have ties to the first suspect.
The Stockholm attack comes months after similar incidences in Belgium, France, Germany and the US. The EU has shown support to Sweden in the aftermath of the attack, along with the US. PM Löfven has urged the Swedish people not to ‘let hatred and fear destroy their national values.’
