12-Year-Old's Death Causes an Outcry in Sweden

She was shot to death, an innocent bystander in an apparent gang feud
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Aug 4, 2020 11:26 AM CDT
12-Year-Old's Death Causes an Outcry in Sweden
People gather near where a 12-year-old girl was shot and killed in Botkyrka, south of Stockholm, on Monday.   (Stina Stjernkvist/TT via AP)

The Swedish government vowed Tuesday to find the perpetrators of a drive-by shooting that killed a 12-year-old girl in what authorities said appears to be the latest violence from suburban feuds between criminal gangs fighting over territory. "If we don't stop the new recruitment of young people into the criminal circles, harsh measures will not mean anything," Home Affairs Minister Mikael Damberg told Swedish broadcaster SVT, per the AP. He called the girl's death in southern Stockholm County "terribly tragic." No arrests have been made. "You feel a great anger toward the criminal gangs who show no empathy because their shootings affect others," Damberg said. "The police are now making great efforts in the murder hunt."

Sweden has seen a rise in organized-crime activity in recent years. Several gang-related shootings have taken place in the country's three major cities: Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmo. Justice Minister Morgan Johansson promised "more police and harsher sentences," and he told Swedish news agency TT on Monday that he felt "disgust" over the shooting. The girl was shot late Sunday at a parking lot in the municipality of Botkyrka, which is a popular hangout for teenagers. Swedish media say investigators think the gunfire that killed her was intended for two men with ties to a criminal gang.

(More Sweden stories.)

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