Victims of the mass drive-by shooting in multicultural Malmö earlier this week were all known to police and many of them were gang members, new evidence has confirmed.
Three men were shot dead and another three injured outside of an internet cafe in the heavily migrant-populated city on Monday at around 8 pm.
Initial speculation surrounded the motive for the attack, but the newly released information has confirmed suspicions that the shooting was part of the growing amount of criminal gang violence plaguing Sweden, SVT reports.
The three men killed in the attack were aged 19, 27, and 29 and through some background information has been released, their names were not published by the Swedish public broadcaster.
The 19-year-old was known to police but had no criminal record. The 27-year-old, however, had been previously convicted of drug offences and violent criminality having served an eight-month prison sentence. He was known to have prior judgements for other drug crimes, as well.
The 29-year-old, who was the brother of the 27-year-old, was also convicted of drug offences and served a two-month sentence in prison.
None of the three fatally shot were the intended target of the gunman, according to investigators. The target, a 21-year-old who was only slightly injured, was recently arrested for assaulting a police officer and had been arrested in the past for murder, attempted murder, and abuse but was acquitted of the charges in court.
The 21-year-old has been convicted of other crimes including several robberies and drug offences.
A source told SVT that they feared the 21-year-old would strike back against those who tried to kill him. A police source also noted investigators did not know much about the suspect behind the shooting saying: “I have never known so little about a murder as now because those who are targeting have been involved in so many conflicts. They have many enemies.”
The shooting is just the latest incident of serious violence in Sweden which has seen not only a growing number of grenade attacks but also direct attacks on the police stations such as the bombing of a police station in Helsingborg last October. The incident shocked Sweden and led Prime Minister Stefan Löfven to call the incident “an attack on our democracy”.