15-year-old killed. Stockholm will not end the wave of violence

A teenager has been arrested after the murder of a 15-year-old boy south of Stockholm on Saturday. On the night of Sunday, there were explosions in two residential buildings in the north of the city.

Since Christmas, Stockholm has been rocked by a long series of shootings and other violent incidents. At 6pm on Saturday, the alarm went off again: A 15-year-old boy was shot inside a sushi restaurant in the suburb of Skogås, south of the city. The boy’s life could not be saved.

– I heard two shots. At first I wasn’t sure that there were actually shots, but it didn’t take long before the ambulance helicopter arrived and I had to realize that I had heard shots, a neighbor told Expressen.

– It feels unsafe. It is unfathomable that children should be involved in a gang war, another neighbor told Aftonbladet.

– It shouldn’t be like this, but we are getting used to it. We close the balcony door, don’t go out with the dog and stay inside when there is noise, said a third.

On Sunday morning, the police reported that a boy under the age of 18 had been arrested and charged with complicity in the murder of the 15-year-old in Skogås. It was too early to say whether the case was connected to other incidents.

– But a major police effort is underway throughout Stockholm in connection with the development of violence. Of course, we look at most such events with those glasses, including this one. Then we’ll see what happens, said police spokesperson Carina Skagerlind about the murder in Skogås.

On the night of Sunday, two explosions occurred in residential buildings in the north of the city. The first occurred at 2 o’clock in the morning, the second two hours later. Material damage occurred, but no one was injured. Explosive charges placed in stairwells have become a hallmark of gang crime in the city.

Doesn’t end

63 people were shot and killed in Sweden during 2022, an increase from 45 the previous year.

On Christmas Day, a leader in a criminal gang environment was shot dead in Rinkeby. It triggered an additional wave of violence that the city has yet to see end. During the Christmas and New Year weekend alone, there were four shooting incidents and four explosions in the Stockholm area.

Now, just under a month later, Aftonbladet has made a grim tally: the Stockholm region has had four murders, thirteen shootings and thirteen explosions since Christmas Day. Of the at least 19 arrested, 14 are teenagers, four of whom are under 15.