Victim in Sweden's deadliest shooting calls his fiancée to say he loves her

Orebro, Sweden – Despite his gunshot wounds, Salim Karim Iskef managed to record his fiancée, telling him She he loved her last time.

The 28-year-old asked Kareen Alia to take care of his mother and herself before the call ended. When she called back there was no answer, she later found out that he died of injury. He was one of 10 people ISKEF was learning to become a nurse when a gunman opened fire at the Adult Education Center in Orebro.

The couple recently bought a house and plans to get married this summer.

“He has all these dreams deep down. Now, unfortunately, all of them have disappeared. Their light has been extinguished,” Father Jacob Kaseria, pastor of their local Orthodox Christian church, told the Swedish broadcaster TV4.

Authorities say the unofficially identified shooter has links to the Adult Education Center, where he fired with at least one rifle-like weapon, which may have been there before.

The shooter was found dead, next to him with three guns, 10 empty magazines and a large amount of unused ammunition. It is not clear how he died, but officials said police did not return gunfire.

The officer found at least five people, all over 18 years old, with serious gunshot wounds. The sixth person was treated for minor injuries.

Investigators found no clear motivation behind the bleeding. Police said there was no warning in advance and they believed the perpetrator was acting alone. Authorities say there is currently no suspected link to terrorism.

The school campus Risbergska offers primary and secondary education courses for adults aged 20 and over 20 years of age, Swedish language courses for immigration, vocational training and programs for people with intellectual disabilities. It is located in the outskirts of Orebro, about 200 km (125 miles) from Stockholm.

ISKEF studied nursing there after working as a health care worker during the COVID-19 pandemic. His family fled Syria between 2014 and 2015, due to its long civil war.

His sister Hanan Eskif told TV4: “We lived together all our lives. We worked together, studied together, went to church together. I spent my whole life with him, without him, I How should you live? Transparent

Their families held a memorial service at their Orthodox Christian church, although they did not receive ISKEF's remains late Thursday.

“We kept looking out the window and thought he would come back and knock on the door, we had to open it. We didn't sleep, we didn't eat, we didn't drink. Nothing, we just sat down,” Eskiff told the broadcaster.

According to Swedish News, the government and Swedish Democrats plan to propose proposals to strengthen gun laws, including limiting the use of semi-automatic weapons such as AR-15.

Authorities say the shooter has obtained permits for four weapons, three of which were found next to his body. Police caught fourth place. Officials said only that at least one gun was a rifle-like weapon.

Currently, in order to legally own a firearm in Sweden, applicants must obtain a weapon license and prove that it will be used for acceptable purposes such as hunting or target shooting, rather than being abused.

Applicants must also submit a previously obtained certificate of hunting or target shooting. The hunting certificate requires people to pass training courses, and the target shooter must be certified as an active and experienced club member.

In a country with about 10.5 million people, there were only more than 660,000 registered gun owners in early 2024, according to Swedish news agency TT. Those registered owners have about 2 million guns, objects deemed to be guns and parts of weapons that require licenses.

TT reported that 1.6 million of the guns were registered for hunting and another 176,000 were fired.

All weapons must be stored in a police-approved safety cabinet. Applications for fully automatic or one-handed weapons are granted only for special reasons and these licenses are usually time-limited.

If a modified weapon is very different from its original function, the license will be revoked.

___

Dazio reported on Berlin.