Man ploughs car through crowd in Stockholm

An apparently deranged man ploughed a car into a crowd of people in Stockholm’s historic old town today, killing a 54-year-old woman and injuring 28 other pedestrians, police said.

The car was speeding down a winding, narrow street closed to traffic, except for deliveries, and used by tourists and residents as a walking thoroughfare in old town, or Gamla Stan.

Dozens of people were struck along a 200-metre stretch before the car smashed into the window of a cosmetics shop, police spokesman Ulf Goeranzon said.

The 50-year-old driver, who was not identified and not seriously injured, was arrested on suspicion of murder.

“The doctor’s preliminary conclusion is that he has some kind of psychological disease. He wasn’t under the influence of alcohol or drugs,” Goeranzon said.

He said the woman killed was Swedish but there were some foreign tourists among the 28 people taken to area hospitals. Their nationalities had not been confirmed.

Goeranzon said two of the injured were in serious condition.

The incident happened around 12.30pm (10.30am Irish time) on Vaesterlaanggatan, the main shopping street in Gamla Stan.

“I saw when he swooshed past and how people were screaming and then I heard the crash,” said Gunnar Oden, the owner of a photo shop on the same street.

“He must have been driving 80 or 90kph (50-55mph). The street was very crowded. It’s a miracle that more people weren’t injured.”

Emma Bjoerklund, an ice cream vendor, said “people were yelling and running into the stores” to avoid the car.

“When I went out, I saw a bunch of people injured on the street,” she said.

Crowds of onlookers, including tourists snapping pictures, gathered around police tape that cordoned off the accident site.

The window of one shop was smashed, shards of glass littering the sidewalk where the car hit it.

Gamla Stan is home to Sweden’s parliament and features narrow, brick- and cobble-stoned streets lined with souvenir shops, antique stores, restaurants and coffee shops.

It is one of the Swedish capital’s most visited areas.