By Bond Robertson 
A young man in his twenties was shot dead in Stockholm on New Year’s Eve. The killing joins a number of serious episodes of violence in Sweden this Christmas.
Shortly before seven o’clock in the evening on New Year’s Eve, the Stockholm police received a report of a shooting in the Vallingby district, located west of the capital. A large police force moved and found three injured. The three were taken to hospital with gunshot wounds. But life was not there to save one of them, a man in his twenties.
According to the police, the other two did not suffer life-threatening injuries.
The shooting took place at a McDonald’s restaurant with empty shell casings and broken glass still outside the entrance.
A large area around the crime scene was cordoned off, and police spoke to and vetted a number of witnesses in the evening. Helicopters and dog patrols also assisted at the scene.
There are also several surveillance cameras in the area, from which the police will extract photos and videos.
No one was arrested
No one has yet been arrested for the murder and shooting.
There were several similar incidents this Christmas in Sweden, including Rinkeby on Christmas Day. A 27-year-old man was killed there. The man was in a gang environment, and the police are now investigating whether the killing on New Year’s Eve is related to this.
According to SVT, the police in Stockholm fear something similar could happen again.
It’s hard to say what that will look like in the future, but there is a risk of more episodes of violence, says Bostrom-Thomas.
A number of explosions also took place in Sweden over Christmas, including at the home of a man convicted of contributing to the kidnapping of rapper Einar. He is later shot and killed in 2021.
With the murder on New Year’s Eve, Sweden set a grim record. 63 people were killed by firearms in 2022. In 2020, the number was 47. The vast majority of murders were gang-related.