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In Vetlanda, the Stortorget statue is called Åsnan, actually called Animals and People, and next to it a marshal was burned on Wednesday night.
Greta’s florist is a stone’s throw away and a lantern is lit there. Vetlanda resident Göran Rosander just turned it on. It was there, on the sidewalk in Storgatan, that an elderly man was seriously injured and treated by staff.
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Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
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Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
Outside the store, DN runs into Marianne Karlsson and her colleague Helen. They are two of the eight people from the so-called Posom group of the municipality. Marianne is the head of daily health and care administration.
Helen Karlsson and Marianne Karlsson in the Posom group.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
They were both at work when the alarm went off. The rescue service had called and said it was necessary to call the group.
Vetlanda resident Göran Rosander lights a lantern at the spot outside the flower shop where one of the stabbings took place. “It feels completely unreal,” he says.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
Until nine o’clock tonight, they have been at the Mission Church about two hundred meters away, where, in collaboration with the church, they have been kept open for the residents of Vetlanda who want to speak, or not to speak.
– We open again tomorrow so that whoever wants to can sit with us and reason, or sit quietly. Clearly people have questions, says Helen Karlsson.
Stortorget in Vetlanda on Wednesday night: A marshal has been illuminated by the statue which is usually called Åsnan but which is called Animals and People.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
Marianne Karlsson says that the few who sought refuge in the church tonight mostly wondered what had happened, how it could have happened here in Vetlanda, a municipality in the Småland highlands with just over 27,000 inhabitants.
– I think there is fear, it is affected innocently. But it’s probably only tomorrow when we all start to take in this, otherwise it’s such a quiet and safe city, Marianne Karlsson thinks.
The police tape measure marks the traces of one of the knife attacks in Vetlanda.
Photo: Veronika Ljung-Nielsen
Just a few miles away DN meets with five policemen, three of whom are specially trained for interventions, they wear masks. They are about to end the investigation of the apartment where the alleged assailant lives.
A police officer stays there overnight to make sure no unauthorized people enter. Another thanks to himself after talking to the neighbor next door. Otherwise, the area is quiet and peaceful.
Henrik Tvarnö is president of the Vetlanda municipal council.
Photo: municipality of Vetlanda
Shortly after 10 at night, Henrik Tvarnö has just returned home. He is the Social Democratic chairman of the municipal council and has never had to deal with something like that.
– It’s just heavy, a shock, inconceivable, he says.
On the website of the municipality there is a text with the title “Vetlanda – one of the safest places in Sweden” and there Henrik Tvarnö was happy to have reached the seventh place out of 290 municipalities in the country in the ranking of Fokus magazine.
Tonight says they have:
– It feels like everything else becomes insignificant. It is incredibly heavy. We are such a small municipality, here people will wake up tomorrow and will have co-workers and neighbors who are directly affected.
The health service reports that three residents are seriously injured.
– We hold on to the hope that medical care can handle them, that’s all we can do.
If he knows any of the injured himself, he doesn’t know, says Henrik Tvarnö.
– We have not confirmed anything, but in such a small town, everyone will probably know someone in one way or another, maybe they have gone to school or played football together.
Are you worried that what has happened will make you angry?
– People I have met express concern above all. I hope that’s what we can take with us. Here, the crisis group of the municipality is not enough to support everyone. Everybody needs help.
