SVT links detained teen to suspect’s account before Fagersta attack
Friday 4th September 2026 on 18:30 in
Sweden
Digital evidence indicates that the 16-year-old detained over the Fagersta school attack had repeated contact with an online account allegedly used by suspect Liam Nebel in the months before the incident, according to an investigation by Swedish broadcaster SVT.
The investigation also links the teenager to extremist online environments. SVT says he can be connected to an alias active in the True Crime Community, an online subculture focused on perpetrators of violent attacks and previous murders.
Liam Nebel, 18, is suspected of killing a teenage girl and injuring three teenage boys at Brinellskolan in Fagersta on August 21. The 16-year-old was arrested in Stockholm two days later and is being held on suspicion of aiding and abetting murder and attempted murder. He is also being investigated over alleged plans to commit murders in the Stockholm area. He denies the allegations.
SVT found that a TikTok user using the same alias had contacted the online persona allegedly used by Nebel on several occasions before the attack. One of the accounts examined by SVT was part of a chat group linked to the misogynistic incel environment. Another account repeatedly expressed racist and neo-Nazi views.
People who knew the teenager described him as intelligent but isolated. He completed primary school with top grades, although one person said he rarely participated in lessons and usually wore headphones while watching anime or listening to music. Others said he was not shy, stood by his opinions and preferred being alone despite classmates trying to include him.
The teenager’s lawyer declined to comment on SVT’s investigation.
SVT describes the True Crime Community as a violence-glorifying online subculture whose members use shared symbols and code words on social media, including TikTok. Short videos known as edits can be interpreted as tributes to previous murderers. According to experts cited by SVT, perpetrators are primarily driven by a fascination with violence rather than ideology, while some also seek revenge or recognition within the online environment.