Örebro school massacre: perpetrator held a hunting licence

Hunting culture is linked to school shootings. It is now known that virtually all perpetrators involved in school shootings in recent years “practised” on animals, and many of them hunted.

Editorial Wild beim Wild — 15 July 2025

On 4 February 2025, at midday, a 35-year-old man from Örebro — a former student at the adult education centre — entered the Risbergska Campus in the west of the city heavily armed.

Within 15 minutes, during his hunt he fired at least 50 shots, killing eleven people and injuring 15. The victims were between 28 and 68 years old.

This incident ranks among the most serious school attacks in recent Swedish history and has triggered shock and grief across the country.

Sweden’s gun laws are comparatively strict, yet access to firearms remains possible for certain groups such as recreational hunters.

The sequence of events

According to initial reports, hobby hunter Rickard Andersson deliberately targeted students and teachers, shooting his victims with firearms. Police were immediately alerted and responded swiftly on site.

Gewalt an Schulen – und Hobby-Jäger?

Police launched a comprehensive investigation to establish the attacker’s motives. It emerged that he obtained his hunting licence in 2011 and, as a result, held a firearms permit for four guns, three of which — rifles — were found at the scene. During his adolescence he had experienced mental health problems.

Animal abuse should not be dismissed as a minor character flaw in a recreational hunter; rather, it is a symptom of a profound mental disorder. Research in psychology and criminology shows that individuals who commit acts of violence against animals do not stop there — many go on to do the same to their fellow human beings. There is no shortage of such case studies today. Recreational hunters are killers! “Hunting is a passion, an addiction even, that brings us joy, that controls us and torments us,” writes recreational hunter Luzius Theler.

More on this in the dossier: Psychology of Hunting

In the view of IG Wild beim Wild, hobby hunters require annual medical-psychological fitness assessments modelled on the Dutch system, as well as a binding upper age limit. The largest age group among recreational hunters today is 65+. In this group, age-related limitations such as declining visual acuity, slowed reaction times, lapses in concentration and cognitive deficits increase statistically and markedly. At the same time, accident analyses show that the number of serious hunting accidents involving injuries and fatalities rises significantly from middle age onwards.

The regular reports of hunting accidents, fatal errors of judgement and the misuse of hunting weapons highlight a structural problem. The private ownership and use of lethal firearms for recreational purposes largely eludes continuous oversight. From the perspective of IG Wild beim Wild, this is no longer justifiable. A practice that is based on voluntary killing while simultaneously generating considerable risks for humans and animals alike forfeits its social legitimacy.

Recreational hunting is furthermore rooted in speciesism. Speciesism describes the systematic devaluation of non-human animals solely on the basis of their species membership. It is comparable to racism or sexism and can be justified neither culturally nor ethically. Tradition is no substitute for moral scrutiny.

Critical scrutiny is particularly indispensable in the field of recreational hunting. Scarcely any other field is so thoroughly shaped by euphemistic narratives, half-truths and deliberate disinformation. Where violence is normalised, narratives frequently serve as justification. Transparency, verifiable facts and an open public debate are therefore essential.

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