Fabian Vidar Cederholm was found guilty of two counts of murder on Thursday. He was sentenced to life – which in Sweden means at least 20 to 25 years, but could be extended. Cederholm was a student at the school in Malmö, Sweden’s third largest city, where he carried out the attacks. The victims – Victoria Edstrom and Sara Book – were found on the third floor of Malmo Latin School – 10 minutes after the police were alerted. Students at the school, which has about 1,100 students, had gathered to work on a musical. Many were locked inside classrooms when the attacks began. Malmö District Court heard that Senterholm killed the staff members by “hacking them to death with an axe”. Judge Johan Kvart said Cederholm had also used a knife. “These are two very brutal murders where the victims suffered grievously,” the judge said in a statement. Cederholm was arrested shortly after the incident on March 21. He was not previously known to the authorities and had no criminal record. Prosecutor Johanna Liljeblad had asked for a life sentence for Cederholm, who confessed to the crime. A lawyer representing Cederholm had earlier told Swedish media that the defendant’s actions were “completely inexplicable”. The court said the motives behind the violent attacks were not fully understood.
