Sweden shooting victims: Syria refugee Salim Iskef was killed in massacre having fled the war
Sweden shooting victims: Syria refugee Salim Iskef was killed in massacre having fled the war
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Salim Iskef, 29 is among the 10 people killed in the Örebro massacre. A Syrian refugee who fled the war in 2015 has been named as one of the victims of the Örebro school massacre. Sweden is reeling in the wake of its worst ever mass shooting. A gunman killed ten people in a rampage at Risbergska School on Tuesday before shooting himself, police say. Authorities described an “inferno” with “dead people and injured people, screams and smoke” when they arrived on the scene five minutes after an emergency call.
![[Salim Iskef was due to be married in June]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/06/14/47/salim-iskef-2.jpeg)
Rickard Andersson, the 35-year-old suspect named by Swedish media and a police source, was a recluse who had little contact with the outside world. Police have yet to share a motive for the killings but on Thursday investigators said the victims hail from “different nationalities, different genders and different ages”. Both the Syrian and Bosnian embassies revealed that their citizens were killed, and the identities of the deceased are now emerging.
![[Mourners have laid flowers at a makeshift memorial near the scene]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/06/08/APTOPIX_Sweden_Shooting_66741.jpg)
Here’s everything we know about the victims of the Sweden school shooting. Salim Iskef, 29, was the first victim of the horror shooting to be named. After Mr Iskef was shot on February 4, he phoned his fiancee, who he was due to marry in June. During a seven-minute conversation as he battled with his gunshot wounds, he pleaded with his fiancee to take care of his mother, his aunt Nadia Deeb told Alkompis.
Mr Iskef, an Orthodox Christian, fled the Syrian war in 2015 to start a new life in Sweden. He became a citizen and trained in healthcare, working in elderly care alongside his studies. “He was a very kind person. He had no problems with anyone. He just wanted to finish his studies. And now he’s gone... I can’t believe it. Is this for real?” his grieving aunt Nadia Deeb told the Swedish outlet.
“There are only three of his in the family since the father died. Now we have lost Salim too. He was our light,” she added. St Maria’s Church in Örebro confirmed Mr Iskef was one of the deceased and will hold a memorial service on Thursday night. The Bosnian foreign ministry announced on X on Thursday that one of its citizens was among the dead. Another citizen was wounded in the attack, the foreign ministry was told by its embassy in Sweden - who had been contacted by the families of the victims.
