A boy is dead. Three other people injured, including a 15-year-old boy. The day after the shooting, relatives and residents have gathered in the center of Farsta.
– He was just going out to meet his friends but never arrived, says the dead boy’s aunt.
Family members of the deceased 15-year-old boy have gathered at a tree right in front of the entrance to the subway where the shooting happened at around 6pm on Saturday. Two of the women cry loudly. One gets a watering can and rinses away bloodstains from the asphalt.
One of those crying is the aunt of the dead boy.
– He didn’t fight, he was just going to meet friends. It’s so terrible, she says.
A man puts his arm around her shoulders. He is also related to the boy and says he was with his mother when they got word of the shooting. He himself has children in their early teens and is critical of the fact that it seems so easy to get hold of weapons in Sweden.
It has become like buying tomatoes or potatoes, he says.
“Terrible, Terrible, Terrible”
Monika and Steve live nearby.
– I have lived in Farsta on and off all my life. To me, this feels like a quiet neighborhood, it’s a nice area. But maybe I live in my bubble. There must be room for everyone but not for violence, says Monika.
There has always been crime and joy here – just like everywhere else. This is something completely different, she says. Steve has a darker view of the development.
– You’re surprised if you don’t hear about shootings and violence almost every day, it’s getting worse, he says.
Bengt Malmsten shops in the Farsta center almost every day. He was not here last Saturday but is taken by the shootings.
– Terrible, terrible, terrible. In a war like the one in Ukraine, there are safe places to move. But here, at 6 p.m. when everyone is shopping, right in the center. It’s terrible, he says.
“Not the first time”
Lena Ljungström is a deacon in Farsta parish and was on the platform when the shots were fired just nearby.
– It sounded so terrible. It was unpleasant but at the same time we are unfortunately trained in this because it is not the first time.
Today, she is there as a deacon. Farsta parish and the Equmenia church cooperate during the day and keep the Centrum church open.
– We will be there and the city’s crisis team will go between the central church and the youth farm for those who need crisis support, she says.
Two men in their 20s were arrested on Saturday evening and are now in custody, suspected of murder and attempted murder, after the shooting.