Two shootings, one of which was a murder, occurred about 13 hours apart in Eskilstuna.
No one has been arrested after the events, and the police will now evaluate whether a so-called safety zone may become relevant in the municipality.
At 10 pm on Friday, a 35-year-old man was shot in the Eskilstuna district of Årby. The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but his life could not be saved.
The next day, at eleven o’clock, another shooting occurred when a man in his 20s was shot in a stairwell in the Lagersberg area. However, he escaped without serious injuries.
As a result of the events, the police in Eskilstuna are now considering introducing a security zone, which, among other things, gives the authority increased opportunities for visitation in restricted areas.
We will certainly look at the possibility of introducing a safety zone. If it is relevant in Eskilstuna and if so in which area it is too early to say. We need to look from our local context to see if there are conditions for that, and what it could lead to, says Robert Åkerström, deputy local police area manager in Eskilstuna.
Serious situation
The police categorize the incidents as, among other things, murder, attempted murder and aggravated weapons offences. No one had been arrested by 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The situation right now is, of course, serious. There is always a risk of revenge actions in connection with serious violent crimes, says Robert Åkerström.
The man who was shot dead in Årby was previously known to the police and a resident of the surrounding area. The police suspect that several people participated in the murder.
We have understood in interrogation that there were several people who came to the scene. But we have no information that there are supposed to have been several people who shot, says Camilla Helgesson, head of the police’s investigation section in Södermanland.
The plaintiff was hit by several shots and later died on the operating table.
Old conflicts
A large number of shootings and murders have occurred in Eskilstuna in recent years, although the police have noted that the number has decreased somewhat since 2022. Robert Åkerström currently has no information on whether this weekend’s shootings are related, but emphasizes that there are several ongoing – persistent – conflicts in the municipality.
Conflicts like this have the ability to live on generation after generation. They are hard to break. There is a legacy of old conflict areas that live on and which we are trying to prevent, he says.