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At 9:30 p.m. on Tuesday, a group of armed perpetrators made their way to Tensta, west of Stockholm. At the north entrance of the Tensta Centrum shopping center, they opened fire on three young men, right in front of the police surveillance cameras. A 19-year-old boy died and two others were injured. The number of people killed by firearms this year in the Stockholm region stands at 24, which is the highest number in modern times.
When DN visited the crime scene on Wednesday, the civil police were still working to gather evidence.
– We have obtained a huge amount of film and footage from our own cameras and cameras on buses, in the subway and elsewhere, says Frida Nordlöf, who is acting head of the Rinkeby local police area.
Despite this I still had no suspects were arrested Wednesday night. The same applies to an attempted murder of a young man in the neighboring suburb of Husby the night before, an act that may have sparked Tuesday’s fatal shooting. It is known that since last summer a conflict has developed between the Tensta and Husby drug trafficking networks and four murders are already awaiting a solution.
– The last two shootings are now being investigated in the framework of a joint special event and we are doing everything possible to prevent further shootings, says Frida Nordlöf.
Three young men were shot at Tensta Centrum, right in front of police surveillance cameras.
Photo: Magnus Hallgren
The shootings reinforce the image of gun violence that DN previously featured. While the situation improved during the year in four of the seven police regions of the country, the number of shootings has skyrocketed in the Stockholm region – from 87 in 2019 to 148 so far this year. After Tuesday’s fatal shooting, this year’s death toll for the country as a whole – 45 murders – touches the previous record for 2018.
The highest police leadership is following events with growing concern.
– Deadly violence is at a high and unacceptable level, says the Deputy Chief of the National Police, Johan Olsson, who during the fall took over responsibility for the Department of National Operations, NOA.
According to the Stockholm Region some 500 policemen are missing in the capital area. Despite this and the ongoing wave of killings, the police leadership has yet to make any decision to move resources from the less affected regions, such as the south and the center, to Stockholm, something that happened previously in the leadership opposite during Operation Rimfrost.
– We have no equivalent to Rimfrost, but naturally we especially look at the situation in Stockholm from a national perspective. It’s no secret that right now the resource is not evenly distributed over the surface, continues Johan Olsson.
Civil police at the scene of the murder where a 19-year-old man died Tuesday night.
Photo: Magnus Hallgren
The most recent reinforcement of the Stockholm Police was carried out in October and included nine investigators, destined to investigate crimes related to decrypted data from the mobile service Encrochat. So far, no new requests have come in from the Stockholm Region either. Instead, stricter priorities are announced.
– When you move resources to blatant violence, of course, they must be taken from somewhere. So some investigations will take a little longer, but we will not close any operations, says Robert Karlsson, acting regional police chief in Stockholm.
Researchers like DN spoke it means that even the most serious crimes are already suffering.
– We are very few when it comes to murder and attempted murder cases. We don’t have time to carry out all the measures that really need to be done because we are constantly receiving new cases, says an experienced group manager.
According to him, an increasing number of unsolved murders guarantees a continuous upward spiral.
– The new generation of violent criminals that we see emerging now is in many ways more dangerous than previous generations. It is as if there are often no barriers.
In Tensta, several testify people DN meets with about growing resignation over the fact that the police are failing to overcome the accelerating violence.
– The terrible thing is that people begin to see this as something normal that cannot be stopped, says Mohamed Barre, president of the Somali mother tongue and parents association.
Mohamed Barre and Mohamed Nuur mourn the murder of another young man in Tensta. “We walked here at night just half an hour before it happened,” said Mohammed Barre, president of the Somali Parents’ Association.
Photo: Magnus Hallgren
He and several other members of the association went for a night walk in Tensta in the hours leading up to Tuesday’s murder.
– When I understood that one of the shots was a young boy I know, I was shocked and sad. There were no signs of this happening.
S’s local representative, Mohamed Nuur, believes, however, that the greatest responsibility nonetheless rests with politicians.
– It is time for all parties to put aside ideology and sit down to resolve this now. Everyone really knows what must be done so that young people do not end up on the streets day after day and sooner or later become involved in conflicts.
