Sweden mass shooting victim called fiancée to tell her he loved her one last time

Orebro, Sweden — Wounded and bleeding, Salim Karim Iskef managed to video-call his fiancée to inform her he cherished her one final time earlier than he died this week in Sweden’s deadliest mass shooting. The 28-year-old requested Kareen Alia to take care of his mom and herself earlier than the decision ended.

There was no reply when she referred to as again, and he or she later discovered he had died of his wounds, one in all 10 folks killed when a gunman opened fireplace Tuesday on the grownup training middle within the metropolis of Orebro, the place Iskef was learning to turn into a nurse.

The couple had just lately purchased a house and deliberate to get married this summer time.

“He had all of those goals in his coronary heart. Now, sadly, all of those goals are gone. Their mild has been put out,” Father Jacob Kasselia, priest of their native Orthodox Christian church, advised Swedish broadcaster TV4.

“How am I speculated to dwell with out him?”

Authorities stated the shooter, who has not but been formally recognized, was linked to the grownup training middle the place he opened fire with at least one rifle-like weapon and will have attended college there beforehand.

The college, Campus Risbergska, gives main and secondary academic lessons for adults aged 20 and older, Swedish-language lessons for immigrants, vocational coaching, and applications for folks with mental disabilities. It’s on the outskirts of Orebro, 125 miles west of Stockholm.

Iskef was learning nursing there after serving as a healthcare employee in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. His household fled Syria between 2014 and 2015 due to its long-running civil battle.

“We have lived collectively our whole lives,” his sister Hanan Eskif advised TV4. “We labored collectively, and we studied collectively, we went to church collectively. My entire life was with him, how am I speculated to dwell with out him?”

Their household held a memorial service at their Orthodox Christian church, though they hadn’t acquired Iskef’s physique by late Thursday.

“We preserve looking the window considering perhaps he’ll return and knock on the door, and we’ll must open it. We do not sleep, we do not eat, do not drink. Nothing, we simply sit and look out,” Eskif advised the broadcaster.

Little new information confirmed on shooter or his motive

The shooter was later discovered lifeless with three weapons, 10 empty magazines and a considerable amount of unused ammunition subsequent to his physique. It was not clear how he died, however officers stated police didn’t return his gunfire, and the native police chief stated the day after the assault that there was “so much to point that” the gunman had shot himself.

Officers discovered a minimum of 5 survivors, throughout age 18, with critical gunshot wounds. A sixth individual was handled for minor accidents.

Investigators haven’t uncovered a definitive motive behind the bloodshed. Police stated there have been no warnings beforehand, they usually imagine the perpetrator acted alone. Authorities stated there have been no suspected connections to terrorism at this level.

Sweden’s gun legal guidelines

The federal government and the right-wing Sweden Democrats occasion stated Friday that they deliberate to maneuver ahead with proposals to tighten gun legal guidelines, together with proscribing entry to semi-automatic weapons such because the AR-15, Swedish information company TT reported.

Authorities stated the shooter in Orebro had licenses for 4 weapons, three of which had been discovered subsequent to his physique. Police have seized the fourth. Officers have solely stated a minimum of one gun was a rifle-like weapon.

Presently, Sweden’s laws already involve strict licensing for all firearm possession, with functions made on to the nationwide police drive and potential candidates required to exhibit {that a} weapon it is going to be used for an appropriate function, resembling looking or goal capturing, and never be misused.

Candidates should additionally submit beforehand obtained looking or goal capturing certificates. Searching certificates require folks to cross a coaching course, whereas goal shooters should be licensed as energetic and skilled members of golf equipment.

In a rustic of roughly 10.5 million folks, there have been simply over 660,000 registered gun homeowners originally of 2024, in accordance with the Swedish information company TT. These registered homeowners had some 2 million weapons, objects which might be thought-about firearms and weapon components that require a allow.

TT reported that 1.6 million of these weapons are registered for looking, and one other 176,000 for target-shooting.

All weapons should be saved in safe cupboards accepted by the police. Purposes for absolutely computerized weapons or one-handed weapons are solely granted for distinctive causes, and such permits are usually time-limited.

Firearm permits are revoked if the weapon is modified to be considerably totally different from its unique perform.