12-year-old boy suspected of attempted murder linked to violent TikTok account

A 12-year-old boy is suspected of attempting to murder a five-year-old girl in Helsingborg, Sweden, according to prosecutors and local media reports.

The incident occurred on July 13 at around 3 p.m. when the girl was taken to hospital with serious injuries after being attacked in a park. She was discharged days later, prosecutors said.

Prosecutor Gustav Friman stated that the girl suffered stab or slash wounds but noted there is currently no clear motive for the attack. The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, was taken into care under the Swedish Care of Young Persons Act (LVU), Helsingborgs Dagblad (HD) reported.

Research by HD, supported by the anti-racism and extremism watchdog Expo, linked the boy to a TikTok account that had repeatedly glorified mass murderers and school shooters.

The account, created when the boy was under 10, initially shared content featuring AI-generated cute animals and gaming clips. By late February 2026, it began posting material glorifying school shooters and other mass murderers. After the attack, the account continued sharing similar content, according to HD.

Morgan Finnsiö, a research journalist at Expo, told HD that this phenomenon falls under the “True Crime Community” (TCC), a subculture obsessed with mass murderers and terrorists, often building cult-like followings around them.

The boy was taken into care by social services on the day of the attack. Social services formally decided on Thursday to place him in care under LVU, at which point the account’s activity ceased, HD reported.