From the outside, the son has all the prerequisites to do well. He grows up far from social vulnerability, with two present parents, siblings, and many friends. But the problems in school come quickly, and escalate with age.
In "Beloved Damn Kid" Pernilla Pernsjö tells how life is put on hold when she and the family do everything they can to help Alfred, but where nothing seems to work in the long run.
Instead, he is drawn further and further into criminality.
We have asked for and even received a lot of help from society, especially from social services. But it hasn't helped. What it depends on, I don't know, says Pernilla Pernsjö to TT.
The Death Patrol
She knew he had problems and sold cannabis. But when he is arrested in 2017 for storing large quantities of narcotics for the gang Death Patrol, it's a total shock.
We could never have imagined it. It was really terrifying.
He is sentenced to prison for 4.5 years for the drug offense.
When he gets out, the problems continue – and escalate. He quickly ends up on one side of an ongoing gang war, where the prosecutor later describes him as a "project leader" for violent crimes.
In February 2024, he is convicted of accessory to murder for a man who was shot to death outside a restaurant in Solna. By then, he has been sentenced to prison five times in ten months.
Pernilla Pernsjö has had a hard time accepting the crimes her son has been convicted of.
I know I'm very desensitized. But what I think is more: how can he do these things? What kind of person does such things?
No Answers
With the book, she wants to show how everything can go wrong despite support from both society and the family. She has no answers to why it went so wrong.
The book is just a description of how it has been. There are no answers. And I mostly feel that I have accepted it.
Even though it doesn't have a "happy ending", as she says, Pernilla Pernsjö hopes the book can help others who end up in similar situations.
The sorrow we have is shame-filled. Because we are parents to the criminal, and it's not entirely simple. So I hope it can be a comfort to others, that you're not alone.
Despite everything that has happened, the love for her son remains, she says.
All parents probably say they love their children unconditionally, but how many are tested in this way, when your child becomes a person you may not think is very nice? But I love him anyway.
Pernilla Pernsjö's son Alfred was drawn into the conflict between Foxtrot and Dalennätverket. The conflict was the basis for a large part of the shootings and explosions that occurred in the Stockholm region during the first half of 2023.
The conflict was rooted in competition for drug markets between the networks, which both conduct large-scale drug operations in adjacent areas and want to expand. The conflict has mainly concerned claims to the drug market in Stockholm and Sundsvall. In addition, the conflict was driven, according to the police, by a desire for revenge for previous violent crimes.
The conflict intensified at the end of 2022 and has resulted in around 40 violent crimes by April this year, including murder, attempted murder, and explosions. These have mainly occurred in Stockholm, but also in Sundsvall and Uppsala.
Source: PM on conflict description from the police
