Wild West Stockholm: Gangland violence grips Swedish capital as rapper, 18, is executed on a sports field, a second man is shot dead and bomb blast kills innocent woman, 25, in her home within 12 hours
An 18-year-old rapper executed on a sports field, a second man shot dead and a 25-year-old woman killed in a devastating bomb blast are just the latest victims of Stockholm’s gangland violence.
The streets of the Swedish capital have descended into carnage amid a spate of lawlessness, with the three murders being committed within 12 hours of each other.
Late on Wednesday, an 18-year-old rapper was shot dead at the Mälarhöjden sports ground in Fruängen in southern Stockholm in a brazen attack during a football training session.
Within hours, one man was killed and another was wounded in a shooting in Jordbro, south of the Swedish capital. Minutes after police were called to reports of gunfire, a pickup truck crashed into a house in the area before two men ran from the vehicle.
And early on Thursday morning, a 25-year-old woman died in an explosion that ripped through her home and four neighbouring buildings in Storvreta outside Uppsala, north of Stockholm.
Footage of the bomb’s aftermath shows the woman’s building ripped apart, the smashed windows hanging haphazardly down the front of her home in a scene that witnesses have likened to a war zone.
Police believe the woman, a Masters student who was studying to become a teacher, was not the target of the bomb. The real target was a relative of gangster Rawa Majid, known as the ‘Purple Fox’, who was living next door to the victim but appears to have been away at the time, reports Aftonbladet.
‘There were panicked screams and the smell of smoke,’ a neighbour of the young woman told Expressen. ‘It was as if we are in a war zone.’
The two fatal shooting now brings the death toll from gun violence in September to 11, making it the deadliest month for shootings since police started keeping statistics in 2016.
It was not known whether the shootings or the blast were related, but Swedish media said at least two of the three events were connected to a feud between criminal gangs, a growing problem in Sweden with drive-by shootings and bombings.
Two gangs – one led by Rawa Majid and the other his former second in command Ismail Abdo, known as ‘The Strawberry – are currently fighting over drugs and weapons.
Police said six people in their 20s – one woman and five men – have been arrested in relation to the fatal shooting in Jordbro, reports Swedish newspaper Sydsvenskan.
Worried residents called police just before midnight on Wednesday night after they heard gunfire on the street below their homes. Police arrived at the scene and found two men injured, one critically, lying on the floor in the street.
One of the men, who has not been named, died of his injuries in hospital while the second is being treated for less serious injuries. Police have now launched an investigation into murder and attempted murder.
Police said that two people have been arrested over the Uppsala explosion, which was so violent that the facades of two houses were blown away.
In relation to the fatal shooting of a famous rapper, who has not yet been named, police said they are looking for a grey Toyota RAV4 with tinted rear windows.
Earlier this week, two powerful explosions ripped through dwellings in central Sweden, injuring at least three people and damaging buildings, with bricks and window sections left spread outside.
Sweden’s centre-right government has been tightening laws to tackle gang-related crime, while the head of Sweden’s police has said that warring gangs have brought an ‘unprecedented’ wave of violence to the country.
Justice minister Gunnar Strommer reiterated this week that Sweden will increase the penalty from three years to five years for possessing explosives without a permit as of April 1 when a new legislation enters into force.
Magadalena Andersson, the leader of the main opposition party, the Social Democrats, told Swedish radio SR that the military could be performing certain functions to free up police by carrying out some transportation and guard functions.
Mr Strommer said that it was ‘not relevant to deploy the military’, but that he was prepared to listen to all parties when it comes to solving the wave of violence.
Source: Daily Mail
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