An knife attack in Sweden in which a Jewish woman was stabbed multiple times does not appear to be a hate crime, police hae said.
A male suspect in his 30s was arrested in nearby Denmark following the attack on the woman, a member of the community in Helsingborg, on Tuesday morning.
Officers cordoned off the street where the attack took place and stepped up security in Jewish parts of the town as they investigated a possible antisemitic motive.
But a police spokeswoman later told Swedish broadcaster SVT that the man and woman did not appear to previously known each other and that officials were not treating the incident as a hate crime.
“We’re not talking about a hate crime at the moment, just about attempted murder,” local police chief Sven Holgersson told Swedish broadcaster SVT, according to TheLocal.se website.
“Based on the way things are looking right now, it’s an isolated incident.”
The victim’s condition was said on Wednesday to be in a serious, but stable condition in hospital.
She was a part of Helsingborg’s small Jewish community, reported to include around 100 members.
Some Swedish press reports suggested the suspect’s mental health may have been a factor in the attack. He was arrested by Danish police early on Wednesday morning after fleeing across the border from Sweden.