Fatal Shootings in Sweden Remain at Record High Levels in 2021

Chris TomlinsonJanuary 1, 2022

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A shooting this week in the city of Linköping was the 47th fatal shooting so far this year, matching Sweden’s record-high number of shootings that took place in 2020.

This year has continued Sweden’s trend of seeing at least 40 fatal shootings per year since 2017, according to Swedish police statistics. Much of the firearms violence has been linked to organised gang crime which remains a major problem throughout the country.

Manne Gerell, associate professor of criminology at Malmö University, spoke about the trend of fatal gun crime, telling broadcaster SVT: “It has varied which part of the country has had the highest level, but overall it has remained stable in recent years.”

Gerell commented on the prevalence of criminal gangs in the country as well, saying that “Neither the police nor other authorities have been able to curb it, while new recruitment to these networks has continued.”

Justice and Interior Minister Morgan Johansson, who has been Justice Minister since 2014 and served as fatal shootings rose to over 40 per year in 2017, did not comment on the trend when asked by the broadcaster.

Instead, his press secretary stated, “Primarily, it is the Police Authority that can account for its intensive work on these issues, which has been scaled up sharply in recent years.”

Swedish Police: New Gang Culture Emerged from Second-Generation Migrants https://t.co/2hFALwfo9e

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 4, 2020

Among the fatal shootings this year was a police officer in Gothenburg who was shot by a 17-year-old in July in the so-called no-go zone of Biskopsgården. The teen is not believed to have purposely targeted the police officer but had been shooting at rival gang members, with the officer caught in the crossfire.

In October, the award-winning 19-year-old rapper Einar was also fatally shot just south of Stockholm in an incident that is believed to have been related to criminal gangs.

Earlier this year, Police Commissioner Erik Nord from the Greater Gothenburg region noted that migration played a major factor in criminal gang violence in Sweden.

“It is no longer a secret today that much of the problem of gang and network crime with the shootings and explosions have been linked to migration to Sweden in recent decades,” Nord said.

“When, like me, you have the opportunity to follow matters at the individual level, you see that virtually everyone who shoots or is shot in gang conflicts originates from the Balkans, the Middle East, North or East Africa,” he confessed.