On Monday, Henrik’s family shared a picture of their “beloved hockey star” – and describes the loss as enormous.
The 15-year-old is mourned by the entire municipality of Alingsås, which has called in its crisis organization.
– It has gone straight to the heart, says municipal board chairman Daniel Filipsson.
Henrik, 15, disappeared from his home in Alingsås on Monday last week and after a large search effort, he was found dead on Sunday evening in Säveån. A 16-year-old is in custody, suspected of murder.
On Monday, the flag is at half mast at the school and candles have been lit at a spontaneously formed memorial site at the police cordon. That a child is suspected of having murdered another child seems to have become part of Sweden’s new reality in a short time – now also in Alingsås.
– I think I speak for all Alingsåsers when I say that this has touched us. It has gone straight to the heart. When we saw the extensive search efforts that were underway, many questions and concerns were raised for relatives, says Daniel Filipsson, chairman of the Alingsås municipal board.
– When the news came, this turns into a deep sadness for the whole of Alingsås today, he continues.
Crisis organization
The municipality has activated its crisis organization and during the day had extra personnel both in the church and at Henrik’s school, which is located a few hundred meters downstream from the site at Säveån, where the body was found.
– There is a lot happening outside Alingsås, in many cities now, where young people are involved. You don’t really understand how it has become like this, says Ewa Liljedahl, who left flowers at the memorial site.
The police lifted their cordons on Monday afternoon and after the youth suspected of protecting a criminal was also released, the investigation now seems to focus entirely on the 16-year-old murder suspect, who admitted that he met Henrik on Monday.
No motive for the crime has yet emerged.