Updated 00:19 | Published 00:15
SUN SIDE. Hundreds gathered in Saltsjöbaden on Sunday evening.
Carrying placards and torches, they walked the streets in honor of the teenage boy beaten to death.
– I didn’t think it was true when I heard it. It took a toll, says a boy of the same age.
Shortly after 8 p.m., the torchlight procession began at Solsidan’s station in Saltsjöbaden.
Several hundred people had gathered to say goodbye to the teenage boy who died in hospital on Monday after being treated for serious injuries for over a month.
On the night of August 9, he was found seriously injured outside in Gustavsberg on Värmdö in Stockholm. The police opened a preliminary investigation into serious assault, which has now been changed to murder.
– I couldn’t believe it. When I heard that someone I know and went to school with died, it was like a shock, says a boy of the same age.
full screen
Next
“It’s very nice that so many people from Saltis show up,” says a teenage boy who participated in the torchlight procession.
1 / 2Photo: Andreas Bardell
“Saltis stands up”
Several in the train are wearing sports jerseys with the boy’s name on them. Some have posters of him with his hands in the air celebrating what appears to be victory after a game.
After a few hundred meters everyone stops. Classmates, parents and acquaintances gather in a crescent, wiping away tears and holding each other as the boy’s music teacher sings and plays his acoustic guitar.
When Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is played, everyone bursts into song.
– I think it is very nice that so many people from Saltis are standing up. Also outside Saltis. To show sympathy and respect, says a teenage boy.
Boy suspect released
The day after the boy was found injured, a 15-year-old boy was arrested and detained on suspicion of the assault. On Saturday, he was requested to be remanded in custody, but the district court did not consider that there were probable grounds for murder.
Another person, this one under the age of 15, is suspected of complicity in the crime.
– It is a very sensitive and tragic case. When it comes to young people, we always have an obligation to investigate everything extra quickly, prosecutor Hanna Loftås has previously told Aftonbladet.
The young people walking in the torchlight procession testify to a concern that the violence is getting closer.
– Unfortunately, it’s a shame that you go around thinking about it. Not to get into a fight and what the consequences could be in that case. You have to think too much.