| Kristianstad school stabbing | |||
| Location: | NTI Gymnasiet Kristianstad, Kristianstad, Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden | ||
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| Coordinates: | 56.0306°N 14.1539°W | ||
| Type: | Stabbing, attempted murder | ||
| Weapons: | Four knives (only one used) | ||
| Fatalities: | 0 | ||
| Injuries: | 2 | ||
| Perpetrator: | Laaiti Ekenstéen | ||
| Motive: |
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| Verdict: | Guilty | ||
| Convictions: |
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On 10 January 2022, a stabbing occurred at NTI Gymnasiet, Kristianstad, Sweden when 16-year-old student Laaiti Ekenstéen stabbed and injured two people before disarming himself and calling the school's SOS Alarm before being arrested by first responders.[1]
On 14 June 2022, Ekenstéen was convicted of two counts of attempted murder and two counts of grossly unlawful threats before being sentenced to 3 years in juvenile detention.
Sweden and wider Scandinavia has had a history of stabbings, most notably the Trollhättan school stabbing, in which three people were killed with a sword at a school in Trollhättan, Sweden.
School attacks have not occurred frequently in Sweden, but instances of them in Sweden have increased in the 2020s.[2]
At 9:05 a.m., Ekenstéen entered NTI Gymnasiet in black clothing and a face mask, carrying four knives. On a utility belt, he attached a wireless speaker, on which he played "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen.
He entered a classroom, walked towards a teacher and stabbed him before attempted to stab a student. The student ran into a crowd of other pupils that rushed to an emergency exit. Ekenstéen swung the knife into the crowd, injuring the same student.
At approximately 9:14 a.m., when all other students had escaped the classroom, Ekenstéen stabbed three of the knives into a desk and laying the fourth knife on top of it before making a phone call to the school's SOS Alarm, Sweden's phoneline for emergency services, explaining his actions and that he was a friend of the perpetrator behind the Eslöv school stabbing, which occurred four months prior. Ekenstéen was calmly arrested without resistance by first responders at the scene.
Laaiti Richard Ekenstéen (born 16 May 2005) was a student of NTI Gymnasiet who was identified as the attacker. Ekenstéen grew up in Staffanstorp, Skåne, Sweden, but he and his family later moved to Hanaskog, Skåne.
According to police, Ekenstéen had a history of mental illness and violent tendencies. He was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder as well as oppositional defiant disorder. Ekenstéen had reportedly experienced hallucinations in the months prior to the attack.[3] [4]
Police found a manifesto on Ekenstéen's computer, which was said to contain "racist content". As of 6 June 2023, the document had not been released to the public. Police had also found that Ekenstéen often had spread right-wing propaganda online and that he made frequent Google searches about violent crimes and stabbings. The most frequent searches were about the Columbine High School massacre in which two students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, shot and killed 12 of their fellow students and a teacher alongside injuring 24 students before committing suicide.
See main article: Eslöv school stabbing. 3 months before the stabbing on 19 August 2021, 15-year-old student Hugo Jackson, stabbed a teacher at his school in Eslöv, Skåne County, Sweden.
Ekenstéen and Jackson were in close contact with each other and communicated through online messaging services. According to Jackson, the two were "blood brothers". They had met on the online video game Roblox and had been friends for around 6 years, communicating through various social media platforms and meeting each other in person 4 or 5 times.[5]
Ekenstéen told police that he and Jackson would discuss and joke about topics like politics, racism and various mass shootings such as the Christchurch mosque shootings. These discussions between Ekenstéen and the police occurred prior to the Kristianstad stabbing and were part of the investigation into the Eslöv attack.
On 22 December 2021, Jackson was sentenced to 2.5 years in juvenile detention.
Laaiti Ekenstéen was held in custody for the following 8 months until his conviction on 14 June 2022, where he was sentenced to 3 years in juvenile detention after being found guilty of three counts of attempted murder and two counts of grossly unlawful threats. He was ordered to pay roughly 440,000 SEK (plus interest) in damages to victims.[6]
The original sentence was later overruled but remained unchanged on 22 August 2022.[7]