Swedish police say they have arrested a 38-year-old man suspected of murder and attempted killings in the southern city of Malmoe amid a manhunt for a possible immigrant-shooting sniper.
The man is suspected of one murder in October 2009 and seven attempted murders between then and October 2010, prosecutor Solveig Wollstad said during a press conference broadcast on public television.
Wollstad did not disclose the arrested suspect's name and refrained from officially linking him to a potential suspect Swedish press have dubbed "the new laserman", who may be behind a series of immigrant shootings.
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The man arrested possessed a licence for two weapons, which police seized during their search, inspector Boerje Stroemholm told reporters.
Wollstad said he "denies the crimes for which he is blamed."
The arrest comes as a Malmoe police investigation announced on October 22 continues into whether a lone shooter with racist motives was behind some 15 attacks, killing one person and injuring many others.
The shooter may even have committed unsolved murders dating as far back as 2003, police said.
That announcement has spread panic in the southern city and the incidents bear a chilling similarity to the case of an immigrant-shooting sniper in Stockholm in the early 1990s dubbed "Laserman".
Dozens of regional police officers have been dispatched to Malmoe to help in the hunt as of late October.
Authorities said at the time it might take weeks or months to find the author or authors of the attacks.
But at Sunday's press conference, Stroemholm refused to offer any details about the arrest, including how long the police had suspected him, or whether he was linked to suspected immigrant-targeted attacks.
He also would not comment on the possibility of other snipers linked to the attacks.
"The case is far from being resolved," he said. "The investigation has only just begun."
He described the arrest as the result of traditional police work.
"We were interested in him following information obtained from the population," he said of the suspect.
"Laserman" was the nickname given to John Ausonius, who shot 11 people of immigrant origin, killing one, around Stockholm from August 1991 to January 1992.
Ausonius, who got his nickname by initially using a rifle equipped with a laser sight, was sentenced to life behind bars in 1994 and remains in prison.
Unlike Ausonius, the Malmoe shooter does not appear to use a laser sight rifle, but police say the same gun has been used for several of the shootings, including the attack on the only known ethnic Swedish victim.
Trez Persson, 20, was killed last October when someone fired numerous shots into the car she was sitting in with a friend, a man of immigrant origin, who was seriously injured in the attack.
In October alone, numerous shootings appear linked to the case, including two men shot in the back, a week apart, as they waited alone in the dark at separate, isolated bus stops.
