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STOCKHOLM -- A man was shot dead in broad daylight at a nearby school north of Gothenburg, Sweden, Thursday morning.

Police in Gothenburg, Sweden's second largest city, were called to Lovgardesskolan middle school in the Angered district around 9 a.m. with reports of a shooting.

They quickly confirmed that a man had been shot to death, Swedish public television broadcaster SVT reported.
"There are supposed to be two shooters and a third in the getaway car," Thomas Fuxborg, press officer with the Gothenburg police, the report said.

Police said they have identified the victim as a local man in his 30s, it said.

A preliminary murder investigation has been initiated.

Many people witnessed the crime, including school children, police said.

The shooting occurred right outside Lovgardesskolan, a middle school for grades four to nine with about 380 students. There, administrators kept the children inside and locked the doors.

"We are keeping the children inside," Marie Ahman, head of communication with the Angered district administration, told SVT.

Gothenburg is located on the west coast with a population of about 550,000 in the urban area and 1 million inhabitants in the metropolitan area. It has become notorious in recent years for gang-related violence. Twenty-six people have been shot dead and there have been about 200 shootings since 2013.