Following the incident at Malmo Latinskola, a secondary school in the heart of Malmo, the country’s third largest city, police claimed the two women, both in their 50s, “were employees of the school”.
According to local media, the suspected assailant phoned 911 to report his location and that he had laid down his weapon and admitted to killing two individuals.
According to various Swedish news outlets, he was equipped with a knife and an axe.
According to the police report, the suspect was apprehended without trouble immediately after the first patrol arrived.
Police had first reported two persons hurt among the approximately 50 people in the school at the time of the incident earlier in the evening.
The two victims “were taken to the hospital but their lives could not be saved”, the authorities said.
Around 5:15 p.m. (1615 p.m. GMT), police were notified, and a first patrol was allowed to enter the school.
The interior of the building is being inspected by heavily armed and prepared police.
Several hours later, the school was still roped off with police tape, and multiple police cars and ambulances were still on the site.
After initial reports of screaming in the school, “we have had more information that pointed to a serious crime being committed and that violence was occurring in the school,” police spokesman Nils Norling told AFP.
“The first police patrol on site was able to arrive at the school and arrest a male suspect. They were also able to see that there were two injured people inside the school,” he said, speaking in front of the building.
So yet, no motive has been identified.
Authorities believe the suspect acted alone after thoroughly checking the site and interrogating witnesses.
“A lot of work remains ahead of us to understand what happened and the motivation behind this appalling act,” said Asa Nilsson, one of the heads of the investigation.
A news conference is set on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. (0830 GMT).
In January, a 16-year-old boy was detained in the town of Kristianstad, also in southern Sweden, after hurting a pupil and a teacher.
The case was related to a similar attack in August in Eslov, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) distant, in which a student assaulted a 45-year-old school employee.
At this time, no relation to the Malmo event has been discovered.
Three people were killed in a racially motivated attack at a school in Trollhattan, western Norway, in October 2015, by an assailant who was subsequently slain by police.