Uppsala shooting: Swedes react to horror amid Walpurgis festival

Ahead of Sweden's Walpurgis festival to mark the start of spring, young people were busy selecting outfits or getting their hair done. Not all of them made it there alive.At a hair salon in Uppsala, a city north of Stockholm, three young men who police say were aged between 15 and 20 were shot dead on Tuesday before the celebrations started.The horror left many shaken in the build-up to the festival, known as Valborg in Swedish, which is typically a convivial affair each 30 April on the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga. Celebrated nationwide, Uppsala hosts the country's largest and most high-profile Walpurgis events, popular with students.The partying did go ahead in full swing, but a subtle heaviness hung over the Swedish blue and yellow flags which fluttered around the city.And now, with the festival finished, it's only police tape - not flags - fluttering outside the basement barber shop where the shooting took place close to Vaksala Square.
'I knew something had happened'
"It's really sad," says 20-year-old student Yamen Alchoum, who is in the area to eat at a nearby food truck. He says he was at another barber shop on the night of the shootings, but previously had his hair cut at this salon multiple times. "I think if I was there [on Tuesday]…I would be, like, involved in the shooting. And it's a bit scary."According to witnesses speaking to Swedish media TV4 and Aftonbladet, two of the young victims were dressed in barber capes and sat in parlour chairs when they were shot in the head just after 5pm on Tuesday.
The city centre was busy at the time as commuters made their way to the nearby train station and students from the city's prestigious university cycled back to their flats.Witnesses reported hearing loud bangs which many mistook for fireworks. Minutes later several police cars and an ambulance arrived, blocking the street and forcing a bus to turn around. Helicopters and drones were dispatched to try and track down the suspect. Local media reported that he had worn a mask and used an electric scooter to get away from the scene."I heard the helicopters, so then I knew that something had happened," says Sara, a 32-year-old who lives on the street. She says her phone quickly lit up with news notifications and texts from friends asking if she was okay.Around two hours after the shootings, police arrested a 16-year-old boy. In Sweden, suspects can be held based on different levels of suspicion, and the teenager was initially held at the second-highest level, indicating strong suspicion.However, by Friday, prosecutors said the case against him had weakened and he was released.
On Saturday, Swedish police confirmed that six people have now been arrested in connection with the case. The suspects range in age from under 18 to 45, according to the state prosecutor's office, and one is suspected of carrying out the killings.People intending to visit Uppsala for the Walpurgis festival were advised not to change their plans, as police promised extra resources on the cathedral city's streets and suggested the shooting was likely an "isolated incident".While many were shaken, tens of thousands of Swedes still heeded their advice, packing the banks of Uppsala's Fyris river to watch the annual student raft race, drinking in the city's pubs and parks or heading to a huge public bonfire in the evening. Others joined the annual spring ceremony outside the university where current and former students gathered to wave white caps."I don't really feel so scared," says Alvin Rose, 19, a social studies student, having a snack in Vaksala Square, just around the corner from where the shootings happened. "It feels like there's more security, more cops about."
His friend Kassandra Fritz, an 18-year-old natural sciences student, says she has driven to Uppsala from her home in Gävle, two hours north, to "have fun and meet new people".She reflects that she no longer has a "strong" reaction to news about shootings in Sweden since they are frequently in the headlines. "There's been so many shootings lately, not only here in Uppsala but like, everywhere in Sweden."
A hotspot for gun violence
Over the past decade, Sweden has emerged as a European hotspot for gun crime, often linked to criminal networks. Research for Sweden's National Council for Crime Prevention released last year concluded that the profile of perpetrators is "increasingly younger", with growing numbers of teenagers both carrying out or dying from gun violence.Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was on a work trip to Valencia when the Uppsala shooting took place, but has since described it as "an extremely violent act"."This underlines that the wave of violence is not over - it continues," he said in an interview with Swedish news agency TT on Wednesday.At a news conference the day after, officers said they were investigating the possibility that the deaths were linked to gang crime, but said it was too soon to confirm this.
Police in various Swedish cities have previously said it is becoming more common for gangs to contract vulnerable children to carry out crimes, because those who are 15 or younger are below the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden.Sweden's government recently proposed controversial new legislation that would allow police to wiretap children, in an attempt to prevent them from being recruited to teenage gangs.Ministers have also said they want to tighten the country's gun laws.In February, 10 people were killed in the country's worst mass shooting at an adult education centre in the Swedish town of Orebro. In this case, police suspect a 35-year-old was behind the killings. He legally owned a weapon, and was found dead inside the building.
Tributes and tears
Outside the hair salon in Uppsala, 20-year-old Yamen says he has never been involved in gang crime but knows plenty of others who have."Many times in my school, there was gang violence, and in the streets - dealers," he says. "But my personality was to work, study, and now I am in college."As he leaves to meet friends, a steady stream of young people continue to stop at the street corner next to the hairdressers, some bringing bouquets of flowers. Several appear visibly shaken and have tears in their eyes."I knew him very well," says Elias, a 16-year-old who says he was friends with one of the victims, and has asked the BBC not to share his surname. "It feels unreal, you know. It doesn't feel like I've truly accepted the situation."

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Daily Mirror

17 hours ago

• Daily Mirror

Posh schoolboy who plotted suicide bomb attack on could walk free

Isa Ibrahim was educated at posh schools that cost his parents tens of thousands every year, but he spiralled out of control and was jailed after planning to bomb a shopping centre A posh schoolboy who once planned to kill people at a busy shopping centre could be out of jail soon. Andrew Michael, known as Isa Ibrahim, was jailed in 2009 when cops found he was plotting a suicide bombing at Bristol's Broadmead shopping centre only a 'matter of hours or days' before he carried out his awful planned attack. Authorities were tipped off by a member of the local muslim community about Ibrahim, who hoped to blow himself up with a suicide vest after he began to idolise the 7/7 bombers and Al-Qaeda monster Osama Bin Laden. Ibrahim would also watch speeches by Islamist militant leader Omar Bakri Muhammad and former Finsbury Park cleric Abu Hamza. ‌ ‌ But nearly 16 years after he was convicted at Winchester Crown Court in July 2009, Ibrahim could soon be released from jail. The Mail Online reported that Ibrahim, 36, is up for parole. 'We can confirm the parole review of Isa Ibrahim has been referred to the Parole Board by the Secretary of State for Justice and is following standard processes,' a Parole Board spokesperson said. ''Parole Board decisions are solely focused on what risk a prisoner could represent to the public if released and whether that risk is manageable in the community.' The spokesperson said a panel will 'carefully examine a huge range of evidence, including details of the original crime, and any evidence of behaviour change, as well as explore the harm done and impact the crime has had on the victims'. There are hundreds of pages of evidence set to be reviewed ahead of an oral hearing. The spokesperson added: 'Evidence from witnesses such as probation officers, psychiatrists and psychologists, officials supervising the offender in prison as well as victim personal statements may be given at the hearing. It is standard for the prisoner and witnesses to be questioned at length during the hearing which often lasts a full day or more. "Parole reviews are undertaken thoroughly and with extreme care. Protecting the public is our number one priority. 'A decision on Ibrahim's case is expected over coming weeks.' ‌ The son of Christian parents who lived in a Bristol mansion worth £1 million, Ibrahim had a lavish upbringing. His father, born in Egypt, was a consultant pathologist in the NHS and his older brother became a software engineer after graduating from Oxford. But despite the luxury lifestyle in the family's gated mansion in Frenchay, Bristol, Ibrahim developed a drug habit - he first took cannabis aged just 12 - and was expelled from three different private schools including the £19,065-a-year Colston's School and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital school which has fees of £9,885-a-year. The even pricier Roman Catholic Downside School in Bath, where Ibrahim was a boarder, cost his family £24,141-a-year. ‌ Eventually, Ibrahim managed to get good grades and received nine GCSEs while he was a pupil at the Bristol Cathedral School, which costs £7,500-a-year. Ibrahim then moved to be a student at the City of Bristol College. After his conversion to Islam, Ibrahim was sentenced to an indeterminate prison sentence with a minimum term of ten years when he was found guilty of making an explosive with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury and preparation of terrorist acts. ‌ He had made an explosive vest in his flat and also carried out surveillance of Broadmead. It was found that he hoped to achieve maximum damage using ball bearings and nails in his vest, purchasing the items he needed from high street shops. Thankfully, worried members of the Al-Baseera mosque in Bristol reported the injuries Ibrahim suffered from testing his explosives. They told police about their concerns over his extreme views and that he was acting suspiciously. It is understood to be the first time a potential terrorist was brought to justice by members of the muslim community playing a key role. Ibrahim was not on the radar of security services at the time. ‌ When police searched his home, the floor crackled under officers' feet because of the huge amount of explosive powder in his flat. Cops found Hexamethylene Triperoxide Diamine (HMTD) an explosive substance used in the 7/7 attacks, an incomplete suicide vest, films of Ibrahim testing the explosives and an electrical circuit capable of being used as a detonator. A controlled explosion had to be carried out at the flat, where a radical book advocating jihad was also found. Detective Chief Inspector Matt Iddon said Ibrahim's kitchen had become an 'explosive laboratory'. He said: 'He identified that the [Broadmead] food court was a dense area. It's full of families – husband, wives, children, groups of young friends – relaxing and enjoying the day. He intended to blow himself up there.' Trial judge Mr Justice Butterfield said Ibrahim was an 'angry young person' and said he was 'well capable' carrying out an attack. Ibrahim had said he did not intend to harm anyone, said he had trouble making friends and even talked to teddy bears as an adult.

Metro

18 hours ago

• Metro

Moment officer tells Christian street preacher 'it's not right' outside station

To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video A British Transport Police officer was captured on film telling a group of Christians to stop preaching outside a busy London station. The group had been on the concourse between Kings Cross Station and St Pancras International when the officer told the religious group, 'It's so loud'. 'These people just want to do their journey, they're not coming here to listen to you,' the officer said. Preacher Mon B, who leads Mad 4 Jesus Ministries, asked if she was performing a happy song, and if it would be okay for them to be present outside the station. The officer then began to walk away from the discussion, before adding: 'I just think it's all wrong.' The moment happened shortly after the group were allegedly told they couldn't stand in front of the barriers near the station. Metro has contacted BTP for more information. Preachers have previously had run-ins with police – one preacher who was forcibly stopped and moved on by police for 'attracting a crowd' with his public speaking and singing was awarded £1,250. Dominic Muir, who runs Christian charities Now Believe and Jesus Fields, was preaching and singing Amazing Grace in Blandford, Dorset, on April 22, 2020, when the UK was in its first lockdown. A police officer asked him to move on and then grabbed him by the wrist to get him to leave. Dorset Police believe the officer used 'reasonable force', but they reached an out-of-court settlement paying Dominic £1,250 in damages and costs. Onlookers filmed the encounter, and a video shows the preacher speaking about the gospel on the back of a truck. More Trending The 44-year-old said at the time: 'I couldn't believe it, there I was out bringing the message of the gospel, the message of hope, people were listening and a police man came and put a stop to what I was doing. 'Suddenly, out of nowhere gets on the back of my vehicle, grabs my arm strongly. 'It was humiliating. It was intimidating. It was shocking. I felt like a criminal. And the whole outreach, the message of salvation, was totally halted. 'The reason why this case matters so much is right now we are in the middle of a pandemic where people are committing suicide, there's mass depression, domestic violence, people are losing their jobs. Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: Sister charged with murdering film director in missing diamond Rolex case MORE: 10 of London's best rooftop bars for summer MORE: 'We need more spaces in London to nurture creativity' – how this venue is paving the way

Scottish Sun

3 days ago

• Scottish Sun

Mum of gang boss Steven ‘Bonzo' Daniel breaks cover to appear at court

The accused had been excused from another legal hearing amid fears for their safety MATRIARCH SPOTTED Mum of gang boss Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel breaks cover to appear at court THE mum of gang boss Steven 'Bonzo' Daniel broke cover to appear in the dock accused of shoplifting. Family matriarch Annette Daniel, 63, appeared at Paisley Sheriff Court on Wednesday where she denied nicking furniture, decorations and kitchenware from Ikea. Advertisement 2 Annette Daniel, 63, left the court alone and on foot after her dock appearance 2 Daniel, 63, broke cover amid the ongoing gang feud to deny shoplifting at Paisley Sheriff Court Police beefed up their presence amid the ongoing turf war plaguing the country — which saw her home firebombed. Annette wore a smart camel-coloured blazer and trousers for her court date but had to wait around two hours for the case to call because her co-accused had not turned up. Sheriff Colin Pettigrew issued a warrant for James Shearer's arrest after he and his lawyer no-showed due to an 'administrative error'. Annette — who left court alone and on foot — was excused from appearing in person at a legal hearing in April after her solicitor raised 'professional concerns' for her safety due to the ongoing gang feud. Advertisement Horror moment Scots gangster Ross Monaghan is shot dead by hitman at Spanish pub Thugs acting for Dubai-based kingpin Ross 'Miami' McGill, 31, filmed the torching of her house alongside brother Norman's days before she had been due in the dock. Shearer, 50, of Dennistoun, Glasgow, and Daniel, from nearby Bishopbriggs, are accused of stealing household goods from the Swedish retailer's superstore in the city's Govan in February 2023. The pair have been ordered to return to court to face the allegations later in the year.