15-year-olds who shoot with automatic weapons, and 15-year-olds who are shot. It is a crazy development, says the Swedish criminologist.
Flowers and lights at the scene of the shooting on Saturday afternoon. A 15-year-old and a 45-year-old died, two others were injured.
The police found 21 shell casings at the scene. It was a warm Saturday afternoon in the Stockholm suburb of Farsta. Suddenly, fire was opened outside the subway. According to the police, a military automatic weapon was used.
Four people were hit. A 15-year-old died at the scene. Another 15-year-old was injured. A woman in her 60s was shot in the knee when she was going to unlock the bike. A 45-year-old man who was hit by the bullets later died of his injuries.
The police will not say anything about what they think is the background for the mass shooting, or who or what was the target of the shots.
A total of seven people were shot in various incidents in Stockholm at the weekend. Police Chief Max Åkerwall said on Sunday that there was a risk of revenge actions. It writes The Express.
A “crazy” development
If this is part of a gang settlement, it is not the first time that bystanders have become victims. But it doesn’t happen often, and it’s rare that so many people are involved. That’s what criminologist Manne Gerell at the University of Malmö says. He researches Swedish gang crime.
– There is one change, and that is that young people are more often targets. We have fifteen-year-olds shooting and fifteen-year-olds being shot with automatic weapons. It’s crazy, says Gerell to Aftenposten.
In recent years, the police have sounded the alarm that both victims and perpetrators are getting younger and younger. Gerell says that some end up in gang crime because they are recruited and used by older criminals since they risk a lower sentence. Several have described them as “child soldiers”.
Gerell believes that there could be even more of that after the Swedish government removed the penalty discount for 18- to 21-year-olds in January.
– Now there will be a very big difference between what a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old get in punishment, says Gerell.
But Gerell also says that there are young people who are tempted by a criminal existence.
– They want to be cool and make money. You get that when you shoot, says Gerell.
Consider lowering the criminal minimum age
The Swedish government is now considering whether the minimum criminal age should be lowered. In May stated Minister of Justice Gunnar Strömmer that it can be lowered to somewhere between 12 and 15 years.
The police have not said anything about whether the 15-year-olds who were shot at at the weekend had links to gang crime. A teacher Today’s News has spoken to, says that he had not thought this could happen to his former student.
– But it’s this damn society they live in, and the role models they have, they’re crap role models, says the unnamed teacher to the newspaper.
There has been a wave of violence in Stockholm ever since Christmas. Police from all over Sweden have been sent to the capital to try to put a stop to it. The police themselves believe that they are succeeding in a lot, even if the violence only continues.
Two men in their 20s were arrested, suspected of murder and attempted murder, just an hour after the shooting in Farsta. They were known to the police.
– Has succeeded unusually well
Around 300 people from gang circles have been arrested since Christmas. A record number of weapons and ammunition have also been seized. Swedish daily newspaper writes that one reason why more people are being arrested is that the perpetrators are getting younger and younger and making more mistakes. Police chief Max Åkerwall tells the newspaper that the wave of violence has forced the police to develop new methods and prioritize better.
– As far as I can see, the police have succeeded in taking more weapons, arresting more people and preventing more incidents of violence. They have succeeded unusually well in this. Nevertheless, there will be more violence, says Gerell.
He points out that criminals are hiding in Turkey and fomenting the conflict at home and that increasingly young people are being used in gang settlements.
– It is not enough for the police to do something. You have to take those who sit highest up, and those who are furthest down in this chain, says Gerell.
The police chief: – Three new ones a day
National Police Chief Anders Thornberg has the following explanation for why they are unable to prevent shootings like the one at the weekend.
– As long as three new recruits are recruited every day, a thousand a year, the Swedish police cannot on their own prevent this type of incident from happening. The young perpetrators must be stopped, but there are so many of them that we cannot be in all places, everywhere, Thornberg tells Today’s News.
He says that as long as new young people are recruited into the gangs, this will continue for ten years, “if we don’t do anything else”.
– The young individuals must either choose another path or be taken care of when they are on their way into this, says Thornberg to the newspaper.
2023-06-12 15:34:45
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