The death toll after shootings in Sweden jumped last year. The figure is markedly higher than in neighboring Norway, Denmark and Finland. The development is also markedly different from 21 other European countries. The last murder happened on Saturday, a few hours before the year ended. During the New Year’s celebration, a man in his 20s was shot in Vällingby northwest of Stockholm. The murder happened right in front of the local MacDonalds restaurant at 6.30pm. The police believe there were several people who shot. According to Aftonbladet, the perpetrators must have launched New Year’s rockets during the crime to create confusion. Several of the witnesses said they thought they heard fireworks. The police quickly linked the murder to a conflict between criminal gangs in the area, according to SVT’s sources. So far, no one has been arrested for the shooting. The murder in Vällingby on Saturday is the 63rd in Sweden last year that was carried out with a firearm. There were three such murders in Christmas Eve alone. It is a strong jump upwards from the level of the last few years. SVT has mapped shootings and murders in Sweden over the past five years, divided by area. According to official statistics, firearms account for around 40 percent of murders in Sweden. Rap artist Pika ut Valden has persisted through the New Year’s weekend. On the night of Monday, there were two new explosions in the Stockholm area. On Monday morning, a multi-family residence in Grimsta northwest of the capital was hit by a powerful explosion. A little later, a smaller device exploded in Bagarmossen in the south of the city. No one was injured in these explosions, but the police believe they were aimed at named persons. A total of five people have been arrested and suspected of various offenses in connection with the incidents in Grimsta and Bagarmossen. According to SVT, a well-known rap artist is among those arrested. He has a previous criminal conviction. In the house in Grimsta where the one explosion happened, another well-known rap artist lives. The police are now investigating whether the explosions may be connected to the shooting on Saturday. Flowers and lights at the place where the Swedish rap artist Nils Einar Grönberg was shot in 2021. Photo: Jessica Gow / AP Believes power vacuum lies behind Manne Gerell, who is associate professor of criminology at Malmö University, tells news that it is not clear what lies behind the spiral of power. One hypothesis is that the police’s revelations of criminal networks have created an imbalance and power vacuum. – Many high up in the criminal network were imprisoned after the police managed to gain access to content in encrypted apps such as EncroChat in 2020, he says. Large drug seizures can and do lead to an increased level of conflict and debt that can lead to violence. At the same time, it has become more common for more than one person to shoot, and for several shots to be fired. Several murders seem better planned. It drives up the death toll. Affects house prices and grades There is also a tendency towards younger perpetrators and younger victims. It is often teenagers who shoot other teenagers, Manne Gerell believes that gang violence affects the whole of society. Those who live in residential areas where there is a lot of shooting get scared and move, and this affects the price of housing. It can also affect the mental health and school performance of children who grow up under such circumstances, he says to news. In the middle of the Swedish election campaign, a woman was shot dead at the Emphoria shopping center in Malmö. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT / NTB Theme in the election Shootings and gang crime were also one of the big questions when Sweden went to the polls last autumn. Even then, it was likely to become a grim record in the number of murders with firearms. The Moderates and the Sweden Democrats in particular insisted that a change of government was needed to overcome the problem. Before the election, Moderaterna leader Ulf Kristersson took a tough line: – A new government will hunt these people until they are all locked up or expelled from the country, uncompromisingly and ruthlessly. These gangs must leave Sweden, he told Göteborgs-Posten in September. Although most murders take place in closed environments, it also happens that random passers-by are hit. For example, when a woman was killed at the Emphoria shopping center in Malmö. Or when a woman and a child were injured by bullets on a playground in Eskilstuna. Both events took place in August and marked the Swedish election campaign. If he thinks he will reduce the number, Moderaterna leader Ulf Kristersson is at the top of the government table. Electors want to know how he will reduce gang crime, as he promised. On 22 December, he presented a series of measures from the government. Among other things, they will be able to: Create visitation zones in exposed areas, where anyone staying can be stopped and searched by the police. Allow anonymous testimony in the courtroom, so that those who are exposed to or witness crime can testify anonymously. The measure is intended to break the culture of secrecy that exists in criminal circles. Give the municipalities the main responsibility for crime prevention in their area. Lower the age limit for when children can be caught by social services to prevent recruitment into criminal gangs. Kristersson says he thinks it is possible to reverse the trend. – The organized gangs will not like this. They will resist. But we have to show that it is the state that is in control, Kristersson said during the presentation. He called it “a paradigm shift”. He stressed that it will take time, and it will be difficult. But he also said that he had faith that it would be possible to change this. – An iceberg Justice Minister Gunnar Strømmer compared the development to an iceberg. – Drapa is the tip of an iceberg, where violence and organized crime have taken deep roots in society, said Strømmer. He announced that the Ministry of Justice will have its own special department that will coordinate the fight against crime. More police and tougher punishment Manne Gerell Photo: Privat Manne Gerell also believes that it should be possible to reverse the trend. But then the police must get more resources and tools. – More investment is needed in prevention, in addition to the investments that have already been made, such as tougher penalties, more tools for the police and more police officers, says Gerell to news. He believes that the action plan that the government put forward just before Christmas can have “a certain effect”. – I think it can possibly contribute a little, but it primarily focuses on several tools for the police. – That in itself will not be sufficient, he says. 19 worst-hit area In a police report from October 2021, Swedish police described 61 “vulnerable areas”, spread over several parts of southern Sweden, with a concentration in and around Stockholm. Vulnerable areas are geographically defined areas characterized by low socio-economic status, where crime characterizes the local community. The police identified 19 areas as “specially exposed areas”. That is to say, the area where the criminal influence is the greatest. These areas were described as “difficult or almost impossible” for the police to carry out their mission in. In 2021, the situation was described as acute. Elections in Stockholm during the Christmas and New Year weekend 2022 25 December: A 27-year-old man was shot and killed in Rinkeby. The man was known from the gang environment. 27 December: Explosion in a block of flats in Enskededalen where a man with links to gang crime lives and who was in the same circle as the murdered 27-year-old. Both should have been investigated after the murder of the rapper “Einár” in 2021. 28 December: Several cases of shooting at a house in Gubbängen in the south of Stockholm. Two boys aged 14 and 15 were arrested by the police. That same evening, there is an explosion against a block of flats in Farsta. A man in his 20s who the police link to a gang milieu lived in the house previously. 31 December: On the night of New Year’s Eve, an explosive charge is detonated in a gate in a city garden in Rågsved, south of Stockholm. No one injured. A person who lives in the house is convicted of involvement in the abduction of rap artist Einár. 31 December: On New Year’s Eve, three people were shot and one of them died, in Vällingby west of Stockholm. 2 January: On the night of Monday, two explosions occur in two residential buildings in Grimsta and Bagarmossen. Five people have been arrested in connection with the explosions. Source: SVT
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Record number of people killed in shootings – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
