The incident that shocked Skärholmen has made the local residents frustrated with the powerlessness of the police.
An open memorial service has been held today for a 39-year-old family man who was shot by local gang youths in the southern Skärholmen district of Stockholm.
To the one held at the scene of Wednesday’s shooting to the occasion several hundred people arrived on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the enormous investments of the Stockholm police, no arrests have been made in the case yet on Saturday.
The incident that shocked Skärholmen has made the local residents frustrated with the powerlessness of the police.
– I have seen a huge amount of uncomfortable things here. In the evenings, they sell drugs here completely openly, says one resident of Skärholmen for SVT.
– Just ask anyone. They know who sells drugs here and who doesn’t. It’s strange that the police don’t know that, another person living in Skärholmen says.
The police respond to criticism
Police Chief of the Southern Stockholm Region Catrine Kimerus Wikström responds to residents’ criticism by stating that the police’s resources are not sufficient to control all areas prone to gang crime at the same time.
– Our problem is that there is more than one such area in Stockholm, and therefore we do not have enough policemen to be able to stand on every corner, he tells SVT.
Kimerus Wikström says that the police have recently been heavily present in Skärholmen. However, many police officers are dressed in civilian clothes, so they do not stand out from the street scene. According to him, a large part of the police’s work also focuses on reaching the top management of the gangs.
– The street sale of drugs must definitely be prevented, but in order to solve the problem, we must make the people who bring drugs into Sweden responsible.
An exceptionally brutal case
Out-of-control gang violence made headlines again in Sweden when a 39-year-old family man Mikael was shot dead in front of this 12-year-old boy.
On Wednesday, Mikael was cycling to the swimming pool with his 12-year-old son, when he was shot by a gang youth in an underpass.
According to several Swedish media, the man was shot because he dared to speak to gang members.