Swedish police suspect 39-year-old Uzbek man in deadly truck attack

World Today

Sweden Truck CrashFlowers are placed at a fence in front of the department store Ahlens following a suspected terror attack in central Stockholm, Sweden, Saturday, April 8, 2017. Swedish prosecutor Hans Ihrman said a person has been formally identified as a suspect “of terrorist offences by murder” after a hijacked truck was driven into a crowd of pedestrians and crashed into a department store on Friday. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

Swedish authorities believe they’ve arrested the person who hijacked a beer truck and plowed it into a crowd of pedestrians.

As CGTN’s Guy Henderson reports, Swedes are mourning the four killed in the incident on a busy street in Stockholm.

The message from the top is that Sweden is safe. Crown Princess Victoria came to pay her respects on Saturday morning.

After Princess Victoria came a stream of public officials, including for the second time, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven who then walked the five blocks to parliament. Prime Minister Lofven was reportedly only a few hundred meters from the attack when it happened — if that shook him, he didn’t let it show.

“We grieve with the families that have lost their loved ones, near ones, but we’re also determined to continue to be an open society, a democratic society, and that is something I am totally confident that the Swedish people also feel,” Stefan Lofven said.

Stockholm Truck Crash Suspect

In this police handout picture of a man that is wanted in connection with the truck incident Friday April 7, 2017, that killed and injured several people in Stockholm, Sweden. Swedish police say they cannot yet say how many people were killed or injured when a truck ran into a crowd in central Stockholm. (Police / TT via AP)

Swedish police have identified a 39-year-old man originally from Uzbekistan as the suspected driver. He was known to security services and, reportedly, had a registered address in Sweden. Authorities also confirmed a flammable object in the truck and removed it from the scene on Friday night for further forensic investigation. If it’s confirmed as explosives, then that would mark this act of terror out from others in the recent past.  

In the meantime, police are still on guard in Stockholm and parts of the capital city remain closed to the public. Authorities are warning citizens to remain vigilant.