Hellen Werme, a 35-year-old nursing student in Örebro, Sweden, experienced a terrifying ordeal when a school shooting unfolded at her vocational school, Risbergska. The day began unremarkably, with a scheduled doctor’s appointment causing her to briefly consider skipping class. Fatefully, she decided to attend, and an unexpected last-minute group change placed her in a skills lab, practicing medical procedures with classmates and teachers, rather than in a regular classroom where she would have been during the lunch break. This seemingly insignificant alteration in her routine would prove life-saving.
During the lunch hour, Hellen and her group heard a series of bangs resonating through the building. Initially dismissing the sounds as a slamming door, the escalating repetition quickly revealed a far more sinister reality: gunshots echoing from the corridor just outside their classroom. Reacting swiftly, the teachers urged the students to barricade the door and hide. Hellen and her classmates scrambled under the hospital beds in the lab, the flimsy metal and thin mattresses their only shield against the unfolding violence. From their hiding place, they could hear the shooter’s footsteps and the chilling cadence of gunfire gradually receding. Terror gripped the group as they lay huddled together, comforting a panicked classmate while grappling with their own overwhelming fear.
Time seemed to stretch into an eternity as Hellen and her classmates remained trapped, their minds racing with a torrent of thoughts. The uncertainty of the situation fueled their anxiety, punctuated by fragmented information and rumors filtering in from the outside world. Each update offered a flicker of hope, only to be extinguished by renewed fear as the reality of their predicament sank in. Hellen’s prevailing thought throughout the ordeal was the stark realization that she might not survive. The weight of this thought pressed heavily upon her, amplifying the terror of each passing moment.
Meanwhile, Hellen’s parents, Meside and Dikran Coskun, were plunged into their own agonizing wait. Dikran, a bus driver, received news of the incident from a colleague, while Meside, a home healthcare worker, learned of the unfolding events near the end of her shift. Meside’s initial attempt to contact Hellen was met with a hushed tone, which she mistook for her daughter being in class. The chilling truth was revealed when Hellen whispered that the violence was occurring in her school, in her very classroom. Meside raced to the scene, her heart pounding with dread, while also grappling with the knowledge that another son worked at a nearby school that was placed on lockdown. The hours that followed were a blur of anxiety and uncertainty, the worst hours of their lives.
As the siege wore on, the students in the lab vacillated between hope and despair, clinging to every scrap of information that reached them. The constant barrage of updates, often conflicting and unreliable, fueled a rollercoaster of emotions. After what seemed like an eternity, police officers stormed the room, their abrupt entrance adding another layer of fear to the already traumatized students. Hellen recounted the officers’ commands to raise their hands, their swift search for weapons, and the tense moments as they were escorted out of the building through a back exit. Finally, Hellen was reunited with her family – her anxious parents waiting outside the police cordon and her husband, who had collected their two young children from daycare. The relief of that moment was overwhelming.
The ordeal left Hellen profoundly shaken, the realization that such events could happen to anyone shattering her sense of security. Back in the comfort of her parents’ home, surrounded by her family, the emotional weight of the day began to settle in. While her young children slept peacefully, oblivious to the terror that had unfolded, Hellen and her parents struggled to process the events. Dikran, despite attempts at lightheartedness, was overcome by the gravity of the situation, his thoughts turning to the victims and their families. The stark contrast between the morning’s normalcy and the afternoon’s chaos underscored the senselessness of the violence, leaving a lingering sense of unease and grief.
