Two 14-year-old boys are suspected of having been murdered by the Foxtrot network.
A 15-year-old boy is shot dead on his way to a fun fair with his friends.
Here are all the children who fell victim to the deadly gang violence in Sweden this year.
15-year-old murdered in sushi restaurant
On January 28, a 15-year-old boy sits at a sushi restaurant in Skogås, south of Stockholm.
He has made it there together with a 17-year-old boy and what he doesn’t know then and there is that he will be tricked straight into a death trap.
The 15-year-old is shot dead inside the sushi restaurant.
The shooter will turn out to be a boy of the same age who was paid to carry out the deed.
The fatal shooting is linked to the Foxtrot network and according to the investigation, it must have been revenge for an act directed at Rawa Majid’s father in Husby a week earlier.
According to the investigation, the boy who was then shot at the sushi restaurant is believed to have been present at that apartment shooting.
The murder in Skogås shows an increasingly recurring phenomenon – gang murders where both perpetrators and victims are children.
Ten people were indicted for having been involved in the murder in various ways. In mid-November, six young people were convicted and four acquitted.
– The family has had great suffering during the entire period after this terrible event, lawyer Elham Arshamfar, who is the family’s plaintiff’s assistant, has previously said.
11-year-old was run over to death
On June 8, an 11-year-old boy is out cycling in Valsta outside Stockholm. It’s sunny outside and the boy is about to cross the road when a motorist suddenly hits him.
The boy is thrown from his bike and is so seriously injured that he dies.
The car driver, a 27-year-old gang criminal who is connected to the Märsta network, is said to have called the police himself and told them what happened.
According to Aftonbladet’s information, the man must have stated that he got “the sun in his eyes” and therefore missed the boy.
He is previously known by the police to have driven insane in the area and according to a survey made by Aftonbladet, this is a recurring pattern in the Märsta network.
In the days after the fatal accident, many Valsta residents gathered at the scene of the accident.
– It feels very strange that he is no longer in my life, because we usually go home from school and hang out in our free time and it just feels so weird that he is suddenly gone. I just want to say he means quite a lot to me, said the boy’s classmate at the time.
The 27-year-old was arrested and detained after the fatal car accident, but was later released. The criminal investigation showed that he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Elias, 15, was going to the fair – was shot
In the middle of the sea of people, several shots are fired in the center of Farsta on July 10.
Four people are injured and two of them die in the mass shooting. One of them is Elias, 15. His friend is also injured in the shooting but survives.
That summer evening, he and his friend were on their way to a funfair a few subway stations away.
But Elias never made it to Tivolit. Instead, he would become another child who dies in what police have identified as a gang-related shooting.
– When I heard what had happened, it was as if my body stopped working. It still doesn’t work. I don’t know what I’m doing. I just walk around, around, said Elias’ father to Aftonbladet after the funeral.
Mohamad, 14, was found dead in the forest
At around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday evening, the police were alerted that a dead person had been found in a wooded area in Nynäshamn municipality.
On the spot, it turned out that it was 14-year-old Mohamad, who had been reported missing from an HVB home just a few days earlier, who was dead.
His body had knife wounds and it quickly became clear to the police that the boy had been murdered.
According to Aftonbladet’s information, someone also allegedly left a symbol on the boy’s body: A “Z”, which the police suspect stands for the criminal Zero network.
Aftonbladet has previously been in contact with Mohamad’s sister, who was close to her brother.
– He was a very kind person and he had respect for adults and even younger people. He was a very good friend too, the sister told Aftonbladet.
Police searched for Layth, 14, for weeks. Photo: PrivatLayth, 14, is suspected of having been killed in gang conflict
At the same time that Mohamad was reported missing, 14-year-old Layth also disappeared from an HVB home where he was placed.
The search for him continued for several weeks, until August 18, when he was found dead in a wooded area in Upplands Bro.
Like Mohamad, Layth’s body had obvious injuries and the police suspect that he too has been murdered.
The murders of both Layth and Mohamad are suspected of having links to network crime.
– The relative whom I represent is of course appalled that his son is likely to have been murdered. The father is very questioning about how his son, who was taken care of by the public and placed outside his own home, could have been affected by this, the plaintiff’s attorney Cafer Demirok has previously said in a comment to Aftonbladet.
Over 20 people are suspected in the investigation concerning Layth and Mohamad. Among them are many young people.
Milo, 13, was found dead in a wooded area. Milo, 13, fell victim to the “reckless gang violence”
On September 11, Milo is found shot to death in Handen south of Stockholm.
Prosecutor Lisa dos Santos, who subsequently led the investigation into the murder, has stated that Milo had been shot in the head.
“There is information, which I cannot go into further due to the confidentiality of the preliminary investigation, which shows that the boy was subjected to the gross and completely reckless gang violence,” said Lisa dos Santos in a written statement.
The police theory is that Milo was killed in another location and that his body was then moved to the wooded area.
Two people have been arrested on suspicion of Milo’s murder and according to documents from the district court there are four more people suspected in the case.
Milo was only 13 years old.
17-year-old was killed in a residential area
In a residential area in Västertorp in southern Stockholm, a 17-year-old boy is shot dead in the evening. A private person finds the boy with a gunshot wound.
The shooting is said to be connected to gang crime and Expressen has reported that the 17-year-old had a connection to a criminal network that was allied with Rawa Majid.
After the shooting, the 17-year-old’s father spoke to Expressen.
– He was not just a son, he was my best friend, he told the newspaper.
According to the father, the murder is a mystery to the family.
– He used to meet friends, but we don’t know that there was anyone who wanted him badly, said the boy’s father.
The boy himself was from Enköping.
Teenager shot dead outside grocery store
A 17-year-old boy is shot dead near the tram and a Coop store in Norrköping. Just a month later, the boy would have turned 18.
Several people were at the scene when the murder took place. When Aftonbladet was on site the next day, many expressed their sadness.
– I feel very taken and shocked today. My thoughts go out to his family, said a woman who lives in the area.
– I heard three, four loud bangs. At first I thought it was fireworks. Then I heard a woman scream. She really screamed. Then the police came here.
According to the police, the fatal shooting was linked to a local gang conflict in Norrköping.
The criminologist on the murders: “Forcing children to do things”
Camila Salazar is a criminologist and has worked extensively with children in the gang environment. She believes that 2023 has stood out when it comes to the number of children as both perpetrators and victims.
– We see an increased use of younger children who are used to commit the most serious crimes. In this way, they also end up at risk of becoming both victims and perpetrators. Because they are in that environment, they are also a possible target for the enemy, says Camila Salazar.
Within the gang environment, there has been a shift when it comes to how the children are used. A possible result of changed legislation, says Camila Salazar.
She is referring to the penalty discount that was removed for young people between the ages of 18 and 21.
– There was a risk of suppressing the worst crime in ages. We’ve also seen kids recruiting kids so there’s multiple layers to this.
Camila Salazar calls the current situation a systematic exploitation of children in the gang environment.
– I react to the fact that the ages are so young. But also that the children are allowed to take severe punishments as if they were adults in this environment, I think that is remarkable. It is also very brutal and merciless, a capital of violence that the criminal networks want to show off.
She continues:
– There are cases where you deliberately spread and show what you are capable of doing. It becomes a way to force children to do things because otherwise there is a threat of violence and deadly violence.
Among the children in the gang environment – both victims and perpetrators – mental illness is often behind it.
– Everyone feels bad, there is a big mental illness in these circles. Many of the children we meet feel guilt and shame, are traumatized and afraid. For some, it may be that they want to undo it, they haven’t understood what it means and what they’ve gotten themselves into. They don’t know how to get out of it. It is a very sad and desperate process, says Camila Salazar.