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full screen The boy is seen outside the Max fast food restaurant where the target was also located. Photo: Police Preliminary Investigation
Both the school and social services had raised the alarm about the boy, who was eventually placed in a family home.
That didn’t stop the boy from traveling to Stockholm for an assassination mission at Stureplan – to shoot dead a gang leader.
But the police’s random check stopped the boy and the plan went awry.
On September 29 last year, in the middle of the night, a then 15-year-old boy moved among partying Stockholmers in the area around Stureplan, while he looked down at his phone. In his hand he carried a blue and orange backpack.
The boy was not from Stockholm but had gone from a family home in central Sweden where he was placed.
The boy’s goal this evening was to shoot a gang leader who is part of a criminal network in southern Stockholm and who has been the target of violent acts. On the evening in question, he was inside the nightclub Holken on Stureplan.
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full screen The 15-year-old had been tasked with shooting a high-ranking gang member at Stureplan with a sharp-loaded MP5, according to information given to Aftonbladet. Photo: Fredrik Persson/TT/Archive
Gave instructions in chat
Some time before the incident, the boy had received clear directives and instructions on the communication service Signal from what is described as the “taskmaster”. There, among other things, he got a picture of the goal board and what kind of clothes he was wearing.
“Brother, are you ready, tonight be ready” followed by “Brother will try to loose gloves but the brooch with you can give you a mask”. In connection with this conversation, the boy was asked by the unknown instigator if he wanted “tradd”.infoclose”tradd”.Tradd is an abbreviation for tramadol.
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full screen The target entered the Max restaurant with company. Photo: Police Preliminary Investigation
Surveillance cameras caught the boy moving in the area and soon police officers on the scene also saw him and approached. They noted that a much too young person compared to the rest of the people was moving around the place. He is also said to have exhibited “deviant behaviour”.
“Going after him a little later he pats,” the boy wrote to the instigator.
At the same time, the boy’s phone rang. There the instructions continued to come from the suspected instigator.
“If it doesn’t go off, pull the thing back shoot again”
But he never made it to the finish line.
Stopped by accident
A police officer at Stureplan saw the boy and stopped him. He is said to have acted nervously and confused. A police officer who testified in the investigation has told about the search of the boy when his bag was checked, among other things. When the police asked if it contained anything that could injure you, he replied as follows:
– Yes.
There was an automatic weapon with the associated magazine.
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Full screen The 15-year-old received clear instructions for the assassination mission and also a picture of the target. Photo: Police Preliminary Investigation
Boy: Felt relieved
In the investigation, the boy, who has now turned 16, said that he was “relieved” when the police arrived. He has also admitted to all charges of which he was suspected.
The boy is just one of many children who have been sent on murder missions in the country in recent years. And history follows the same pattern. Prior to the assignment, there were several other people around him who directed and contributed in various ways by arranging overnight accommodation and booking train tickets.
The boy himself also knows what it’s like to be a victim of crime as he was previously kidnapped, which led to his family paying a person 10,000 kroner so that he would be left alone.
At the time of the incident at Stureplan, he had been placed in a family home as, according to a relative, he wanted to get away from his hometown and “supposedly ended up in the wrong company”.
In questioning, the 16-year-old said that he felt compelled to carry out the assignment. He had shortly before met some young men who asked if he wanted to work for them.
– I didn’t want to say no. It felt easiest to say yes in that situation.
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full screen The suspected instigator had regular contact with the boy. Photo: Police Preliminary Investigation
The police managed to go to the nightclub where the gang member was and warned him. When the investigators went through his phone, the man had sent a message that “there’s good on us”.
“Be careful and warn everyone in sthlm”
More warnings are sent to the gang member.
“Brother, be careful, especially when you’re clubbing or something like that.”
Target: Thought things had calmed down
In questioning, the gang member said that at the time he had no threat towards him, but that it was something he had in the past.
– Then I didn’t know that the threat picture was the way it turns out to be now. I thought things had calmed down, says the gang member in questioning.
When he was asked if he wanted help and protection, he replied that he had to “solve the situation himself”. In questioning, the gang member has also said that “if people want to kill him, he has to deal with it himself as he doesn’t get the help he wants from the police”.
The boy was sentenced in the district court to closed youth care for one year and two months for preparation for murder, serious weapons offenses and minor drug offences.