STOCKHOLM (AP) – A hunt continued on Friday for the tenant in an apartment building that was shaken by an explosion and fire this week that injured 16 people, four of them seriously.
The man is wanted on suspicion of general destruction. The authorities have not identified him, but Swedish media reported that the suspect was a man in his 50s who had lived with his mother in the building in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second largest city.
The block was crushed by a powerful explosion early on Tuesday. Subsequent fires spread to several apartments and hundreds of residents were evacuated. At least 140 apartments were damaged.
Swedish radio quoted an unnamed neighbor as saying that the suspect had “a lot of chemicals either in the apartment or in the basement, considering the smell.”
The property owner had tried to evict the man and his mother from their apartment, according to the daily newspaper Aftonbladet. Several Swedish media said that an eviction was planned for Tuesday, the day when the explosion occurred.
Aftonbladet said that the police had prosecuted the man for several crimes a week before the explosion. The newspaper also reported that after he was not allowed to see his mother in a nursing home due to pandemic restrictions, the suspect harassed several people, including the owner of the building.