A 16-year-old has been charged with the death of local politician Frederik Andersson outside a gym in Stockholm last year after the politician attempted to stop a gang shooting.
The 16-year-old has been charged with murdering 55-year-old Frederik Anderson, who was not the intended target in the attack, as well as a count of attempted murder, while three others have been charged with aiding and abetting murder and attempted murder.
District Attorney Daniel Suneson, who brought the charges, spoke about the case, telling broadcaster SVT, “The investigation has shown nothing more than that the person who died was not the actual target but only intervened against the perpetrator.”
The fatal shooting is said to also be linked to another case involving the bombing of a restaurant in the Södermalm area of Stockholm that saw a suspect throw a hand grenade inside the restaurant in March of last year.
The fatal shooting of Mr Anderson took place in late March of 2022 at a gym in the centre of Stockholm and investigators initially stated that the actual target of the shooting was a member of the Banditos motorcycle gang.
Andersson had served as the chairman of the small conservative-populist Civic Collection party in Solna, with the party releasing a statement following his death saying, “Fredrik Andersson reportedly intervened against a gun-wielding man who was out to murder another who was in the room, which ended with him being shot himself.”
Known for his eccentricities, Andersson would carry around a model of a human spine when out campaigning, with the party explaining, “The spine was literally Frederick’s hallmark. He sometimes carried around a model of a spine to show what he felt more of it was needed in Sweden. He was, in words, images and deeds, an expression of civil courage – civic courage.”
The fatal shooting of Andersson was just one of the over 60 fatal shootings that took place across Sweden last year, smashing the previous record number of fatal shootings set in 2020.
Since Christmas, the Stockholm area has seen a surge in gang violence, including shootings, stabbings, arson attacks and bombings.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson spoke out about the ongoing violence, claiming the past weekend had been one of the worst for gang violence ever seen and stated, “I think we have come so far in this development that we have to do things we have not done before, these are the domestic terrorists of our time.”