The killer was only 14 and had lived in youth homes as a ward of the authorities since he was eight.

A year ago, a gang helped the boy escape, put him up in a hotel and gave him cannabis, food and new clothes. Six days later, gang members told him it was time to repay them for their kindness. They had a job for him.

Together with another youth, the boy, who as a juvenile cannot be identified, shot dead a 33-year-old Hells Angels biker. He was convicted by a court which described the case as a gangland contract killing.

As he was too young to be sentenced, he was handed back to social services and sent to another youth home.

Sweden has long prided itself on one of the world’s most generous social safety nets, with a state that looks after vulnerable people at all stages of life.

But these days it also has another distinction: by far the highest per capita rate of gun violence in the EU. Last year 55 people were shot dead in 363 separate shootings in a country of just 10 million people. By comparison, there were just six fatal shootings in the three other Nordic countries - Norway, Finland and Denmark - combined.

  • BobGnarley@lemm.eeEnglish
    21·
    1 year ago

    Ok but the government seems to have let it happen.

    Yeah, mixing violent youths with kids who just don’t have families seems to have consequences.

    I disagree with the kid being a victim though. Even a 5 year old knows and understands what death is.

    • MentalEdge@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      1·
      1 year ago

      Yeah.

      Kill that guy for us, or we’ll kill you, you owe us, sorta requires understanding death.

      You think these kids take the “deal” knowing where it leads? Even some adults are easy to manipulate… so a fourteen-year-old?

      I’d agree that some teen that kills of their own volition isn’t innocent… But there’s a literal gang involved that is actively grooming kids for murder.

      As for the government letting it happen, agreed. Modern politics, legislation, and government executive branches address problems at a snails pace. Often actively causing them because politicians refuse to enact laws based on what is known, rather than what they feel.

      Kinda like you, feeling like the victimhood of this actual child shouldn’t be acknowledged.

      An attempt to address this with such a tainted perspective surely wouldn’t cause problems. /S