The trial against the man started today in Alingsås district court.
The police were alerted about the 56-year-old at 12.40 on April 18 this year. A resident of the municipality had then seen the man with a military automatic carbine AK4 when he went up into a forest. He was described by witnesses as mentally unstable and had expressions of “grudge against the municipality”.
About a quarter of an hour later, at 12.55, the first police patrol was on the scene. A few minutes later, the officers alerted the command center in a panic, stating that shots had been fired at them.
– It’s hitting right next to us here now! It bangs right next to the car, says one of the three policemen in the radio traffic and was forced to retreat.
The perpetrator then disappeared into a forest.
– It is not possible to judge where it is being fired from, it feels like it is being fired at us. It’s three
banging so far. Unclear from where.
Shortly afterwards, another of the policemen was heard shouting:
– Go go go!
Sat in a circle in the forest
The officers reported that automatic volleys continued to be fired at the patrol and that they were forced to take cover behind an embankment. The three policemen who were shot at were forced to change places shortly afterwards and instead hide in a wooded area to await reinforcements. The volleys continued.
– We have protection of the forest here, but yes we try to consider our safety as much as we can, says the radio traffic.
Another of the police later stated in questioning:
– We took cover behind a crest at first. Then it continued to shoot. We then decided that it was not a good place so we continued towards the forest to take cover. There we waited for the task force to get help.
The one policeman told us that they sat in a circle to keep an eye on the shooter from different directions.
– When we sat in the forest and heard all the automatic fire, you didn’t feel so big. Be prepared that I wouldn’t come home and that I won’t get to say goodbye to my child.
Shot down by the task force
The task force was called to the scene and shortly before 2 p.m., with a bulletproof car, was able to evacuate the police officers.
– It felt like an eternity until the task force arrived. Was terrified, it was the first time I was faced with such an event. It was just a matter of waiting out the time so we could get out of there, says one of those shot at.
Just over an hour after the first shooting, the task force saw how the perpetrator entered a villa in the area – where the drama continued. New volleys of automatic fire were reported.
– Then it is shot from the home, then it is shot from the home. It looked like smoke was coming from the mouth of the second floor.
– Then it’s shot again, coarser caliber.
The police tried to get the man to stop by addressing him with a megaphone. Negotiators were also called in. At around 3:30 p.m., after almost three hours of shooting drama, the 56-year-old left the house. The task force, which had surrounded the residence, then chose to shoot the man in the leg.
The Prosecutor: Margins of a disaster
The 56-year-old is charged with attempted murder of three policemen and extremely serious weapons offences. He is also suspected of arson after firing weapons with tracer ammunition in the terrain, which caused fires in several places in the forest area.
The emergency services managed to extinguish the flames at 5 p.m. Over four hours after the first alarm.
A total of 40 shots were fired during the drama. According to the prosecutor, it was “a very dangerous act” and it was a pure coincidence that no police officer or anyone from the public who was in the area was injured.
– There were small margins that this did not have a catastrophic outcome in the sense that people died. There have been very, very small margins. Then it is remarkable that it is directed at police officers, they are part of the state and democracy in Sweden, says senior prosecutor Andreas Lennartsson.
The police received crisis support
No clear motive for the incident has emerged, the prosecutor states.
– It is rooted in a bad mental state which led to him losing custody and right of access to his children. Based on that, he has cultivated some kind of conspiracy where he felt opposed by the municipality and, by extension, the police. To some extent also felt monitored. It has developed into what can be expressed as some form of grudge against the municipality and the judiciary in general. But what makes him on this particular day decide to do this, we’ll see if we get any information about it in the trial.
Head of Police Region West, Klas Johansson, says in a comment:
– We take a very serious view when police officers in their professional practice are exposed to fire and are prevented from carrying out their work. The colleagues have received as much crisis support as we can manage to give after the event.
The trial is expected to conclude at the end of next week. The 56-year-old denies any crime but admits that he had the weapon.