At 10 pm on Friday, a 35-year-old man was shot in the Årby district of Eskilstuna. The man was taken to hospital with serious injuries, but his life could not be saved.
The next day, at 11 am, another shooting occurred when a 20-year-old man was shot and injured in a stairwell in the Lagersberg area. However, he did not suffer serious injuries.
As a result of these events, the police in Eskilstuna are now considering introducing a security zone, which would give the authorities increased opportunities for searches in designated areas.
We will definitely look into the possibility of introducing a security zone. Whether it is relevant in Eskilstuna and in which area is too early to say. We need to look at it from our local context to see if there are conditions for it, and what it could lead to, says Robert Åkerström, deputy local police chief in Eskilstuna.
Serious situation
The police are classifying the events as, among other things, murder, attempted murder, and serious weapons offenses. No one had been arrested by 3 pm on Sunday.
The situation right now is of course serious. There is always a risk of revenge actions in connection with serious violent crimes, says Robert Åkerström.
The man who was shot dead in Årby was previously known to the police and lived in the nearby area. The police suspect that several people were involved in the murder.
We have understood from the interrogations that there were several people who came to the scene. But we have no information that there were several who shot, says Camilla Helgesson, head of the police's investigative section in Södermanland.
The victim was hit by several shots and later died on the operating table.
Old conflicts
A larger number of shootings and murders have occurred in Eskilstuna in recent years, although the police have noted that the number has decreased slightly since 2022. Robert Åkerström currently has no information about whether the weekend's shootings are connected, but emphasizes that there are several ongoing - lingering - conflicts in the municipality.
Such conflicts have the ability to live on from generation to generation. They are difficult to break. There is a legacy of old conflict areas that live on and which we are trying to prevent, he says.
