Devendra Kumar
Two people were killed and two others injured when a lone gunman opened fire at an Irish pub in Sandviken, a small town in eastern Sweden, late on Thursday. The shooting, which appears to be linked to escalating violence among criminal gangs, has left the town reeling. According to police, one of the dead men, a man in his 70s, and the two injured individuals were likely innocent bystanders at the pub, while the third victim, a man in his 20s, was believed to be the intended target.
Police are still searching for the lone gunman, who struck without warning, but so far no arrests have been made. The shooting is just the latest in a worrying trend of violence in Sweden, which has seen a surge in gang-related crime over the past few months. According to police, around 30,000 people in Sweden are directly involved with or have ties to gang crime, and the violence has spread from major urban areas to smaller towns where it was previously rare.
The pub where the shooting took place will remain closed this weekend due to the incident, and the impact on the town’s residents is already being felt. Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, whose centre-right government has pledged to tackle gang-related crime, condemned the shooting, describing it as “horrific”. Kristersson’s government won last year’s election in part on a promise to stem the tide of gang-related violence, and the latest incident has highlighted the need for swift and effective action.
The shooting in Sandviken is just the latest in a long line of violent incidents in Sweden, and it has sparked widespread concern about the country’s spiraling gang problem. The fact that the violence has spread from urban areas to smaller towns has added to the sense of unease, and many are calling for greater investment in crime prevention and community policing to address the issue. As the investigation into the shooting continues, one thing is clear: something needs to be done to stop the violence before it’s too late.