The Swedish daily, Expressen, has posted a report on the number of shootings in Sweden from 2017 to the present. A major portion involves gang wars between rival immigrant gangs. An interesting aspect this year has been the fact that while the number of shootings has declined in 2025, the proportion of deaths to shootings has increased. One police source, queried by Expressen, suspects this may be due to the gangs hiring more professional killers.
The article below by Expressen is translated by Fousesquawk.
Shootings are deadlier than ever: "Execution"
Posted September 5, 2025 at 19:05
Not since police began keeping statistics have shootings been as deadly as now.
A new pattern is seen thus far this year- and in just one week, 4 young men have been shot to death in cars.
"This can only be interpreted as one thing: execution. This is a classic mafia method," says Jale Poljarevius, police regional intelligence chief.
Caption: The car in which the victims were sitting was still running when police arrived at the scene.
* Gothenburg, April 14. Two young men shot to death outside in Biskopsgården late at night. According to information provided to Expressen, they have connections to the North Biskop network, which has long had a conflict with South Biskop.
*Uppsala, April 29. In the afternoon on the day before Walpurgis, a young man and two teenagers were shot to death at a hair salon.
*Järfälla, August 25. After a report of a shooting just after midnight, two men were found shot to death in a car in a parking lot in Kallhäll.
*Gothenburg, September 2. Two young men were found dead in a car in a parking garage in Lunden. They were reportedly shot to death from the back seat. Once again, it is believed that the conflict between the Biskopsgården criminal gangs lies behind the crime.
Increased deadliness in shootings
These cases from the last few months can show a change in the gun violence of the gangs. Shootings have certainly become fewer-but also more deadly.
The number of shootings without deaths is higher than those with deaths.
Thus far this year, there have been 4.9 shootings for each dead victim, not counting the mass Risbergska murder in Örebro. That can be compared with 7.6 shootings for each dead victim during the period 2017-2024.
This shows police numbers from last year and so far in 2025. Expressen has also figured in the shootings of the past few days, which are not yet recorded in police statistics.
Jale Poljarevius, the intelligence chief in the Central Police Region, says that there have been many shootings with more than one fatal victim during the year. A conceivable explanation can be that criminals have started to hire more capable perpetrators than before, he thinks.
"A professional goes in and does a surgical operation. He gets a target and takes out the target."
"Classic mafia method"
At the same time, Jale Poljarevius points out that it is not always obvious whether the murdered person was the target or if they were shot for more random reasons.
"Is it intentional to take these human lives, or is it rather that you intend to kill one but shoot and two others die?"
As for the two current double murders in cars in Gothenburg and Stockholm, Poljarevius says:
"There is only one way to interpret it: Execution. This is a classic mafia method, as old as cars. It's built on misleading and false trust to get a person to sit in a car and make themselves so vulnerable."
Increased mortality in shootings
Number of shootings, number of fatalities, and number of shootings compared to fatalities. All of 2017-2024. Through September 4, 2025.
2025: 117 shootings, 44 deaths, 4.9 shootings per fatality
2024: 296 shootings 44 deaths, 6.7 shootings per fatality.
2023: 368 shootings, 54 deaths, 6.8 shootings per fatality
2022: 391 shootings, 62 deaths 6.3 shootings per fatality.
2021: 344 shootings, 45 deaths, 7.6 shootings per fatality.
2020: 379 shootings, 47 deaths, 8.1 shootings per fatality.
2019: 360 shootings, 45 deaths 8.0 shootings per fatality.
2018: 325 shootings, 43 deaths, 7.6 shootings per fatality.
2017: 281 shootings, 36 deaths, 7.8 shootings per fatality.
We have used police statistics on shootings up to and including August 2025
We have excluded the mass murder at the Risbergska School since it was a unique incident that can give a misleading picture of the development of gang violence.
We have also excluded one of the two death cases in the shooting in Alvesta in July, since it is considered to have been a suicide.
For the period, September 1-4, 2025, we have used police incident reports and media reports on shootings.
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