A 15-year-old boy was offered 300,000 kronor to carry out a murder in Gothenburg. When he tried to back out, the people who hired him allegedly threatened to kill him and his family. Eventually, he fled home with two loaded pistols. The parents tried to get him out of the situation by returning the weapons to the criminals—a decision that has now cost each of them one and a half years in prison. The preliminary investigation offers further insight into how a family was drawn into organized crime when the son was recruited as a child soldier.

It began when the 15-year-old boy came into contact with people who offered large sums of money to carry out a murder. The communication took place via the encrypted messaging app Signal.

In a police interrogation on May 23, the boy explained that he was suddenly added to a group chat with two people who went by the aliases “Lil Jeff” and “Lucky Luciano.” The offer was straightforward—if he killed a man, he would get 300,000 kronor.

The boy accepted the assignment, but after a while, he started having second thoughts. According to his own statement, he tried to inform the contractors several weeks before the planned murder that he no longer wanted to participate. This was not accepted.

In the police interview, he said that the contractors insisted they had already spent money on preparations and he therefore had to fulfill the agreement. They allegedly also threatened to kill both him and his family if he refused. The boy states that these threats made him feel as if he had no choice but to go through with the assignment.

Was Supposed to Shoot Someone Who Looked Like a Gang Member

On May 7, the boy traveled from Helsingborg to Gothenburg to carry out the murder. At the same time, a 16-year-old girl, independently of the boy, had been recruited for the same job. The two teenagers didn’t know each other beforehand.

In Hammarkullen, the two were handed two pistols by a woman. The weapons were loaded and were to be used in a deadly shooting in Biskopsgården.

The boy said he believed the plan was for both teenagers to shoot, since they had received one weapon each. But the interrogations also include a detail that raises questions about how carefully planned the murder really was.

According to the boy, he received instructions to fire two shots at the victim’s head. At the same time, he noted that he was not given a specific individual as a target, but rather was supposed to shoot someone who looked like they belonged to a criminal gang.

This differs from other information in the investigation suggesting the teens had photos of a potential target on their phones. Prosecutors previously stated that it has not been possible to confirm the intended murder victim’s identity, but it was likely someone with gang ties in Biskopsgården.

Conscience Caught Up with the 15-year-old

The teenagers were taken to an apartment on Rimfrostgatan to await further instructions. But when the murder did not take place at the originally planned time, the boy began to hesitate more and more.

In his police statement, he described how he eventually went to Vårväderstorget, where the shooting was supposed to happen, but had a panic attack. He started thinking about what it actually meant to take another person’s life.

Instead of carrying out the shooting, he left the area and went to Gothenburg Central Station. With both pistols in a bag, he boarded a train south. At that point, he had not only aborted the murder assignment but had also brought along the weapons provided to the teenagers by the contractors.

“I Became Hysterical—That’s My 15-year-old”

When the boy came home to his parents in Helsingborg, a scene unfolded that the mother described as almost chaotic in the police interview. Earlier that day, she had been desperate because her son had disappeared from home.

Upon his return, she learned that he had been in Gothenburg to shoot someone to death. In addition, he was carrying two pistols.

– I became hysterical. That’s my 15-year-old. I’m sitting there with a bag full of weapons, the mother said in a June 16 interview.

She described having great difficulty grasping what had happened. In a subsequent interview, she returned to the situation:

– Then my 15-year-old son comes home with weapons in a bag and had been away on a mission. It is hysteria and panic.

The mother said she did not know who was behind the murder assignment or why her son had become involved. But one thing was clear: the criminals wanted their weapons back.

The Threats Against the Family

From the boy’s statements, it appears he had previously been threatened when trying to break off the assignment. He said that at that time, the contractors threatened to kill him and his family.

After fleeing Gothenburg, he contacted the people behind the murder plot again and explained that he would not carry out the shooting. This time, they accepted his withdrawal—on the condition that the weapons were returned, according to the boy.

In messages included in the investigation, he tries to assure the contractors that he has not told anyone. He also says that his dad has found out what happened.

“Dad found out about everything. I swear on mom, I didn’t say anything. If you want money, I’ll sort it,” the boy wrote.

When he is told that he does not need to pay compensation, he expresses relief. But he also writes something that raises questions about how definitive his withdrawal really was.

“I’ll do it again in a few weeks to let things calm down,” he wrote.

It is unclear whether this was a genuine offer to carry out another murder or an attempt to stay in the criminals’ good graces.

Parents Chose to Return the Weapons

At home, the family began discussing how to solve the situation. The parents chose not to contact the police immediately. Instead, the pistols would be returned to those who had provided them.

The family enlisted help from a male close relative of the mother, who had previously been convicted of several crimes. The man traveled to Helsingborg and agreed to accompany the boy back to Gothenburg.

The parents contributed money for the journey and made sure there were funds to pay the contractors if they suddenly demanded compensation.

The relative has described his actions in a police interview as an attempt to prevent the boy from committing murder and to help him leave the situation behind. He said he did not want to know more than necessary about who the contractors were.

“I don’t want to get involved any more than making sure he doesn’t do something he will regret,” he explained.

He also stressed that he saw the boy as a family member who needed help, not primarily as a criminal.

The Murder Weapons Back with the Gang

The boy and the relative traveled to Gothenburg with the pistols. According to the boy’s account, the handoff took place in a stairwell in Hammarkullen. He said he was waved into an entrance and the weapons were handed over in a spot behind a staircase, avoiding the entrance surveillance cameras.

The man who received the guns behaved kindly, according to the boy. They talked for a bit before the boy could leave the location. The boy believed it was the same person he had previously spoken to on the phone.

Thus, the weapons were back in the hands of the criminals. This circumstance would later determine the parents’ criminal liability.

By assisting with the return, the parents had not only tried to help their son out of a difficult situation. They had also contributed to returning firearms intended for murder to organized crime.

Mother: “He Is My Child”

It was not until May 21 that the parents took their son to the police. In her interview, the mother was asked why the family waited so long to tell authorities what had happened. Her answer illustrates how difficult she found it to handle the situation.

– He’s my child, you know. And I still can’t really comprehend what happened.

She said that at first, she was at home and did not know what to do. Eventually, the family was contacted by social services, who had received information about the boy’s behavior and his activity on Signal.

The parents also began noticing changes in their son. He acted differently, stopped listening to them, and continued to move between different towns despite their efforts to set boundaries.

The mother described how she eventually no longer recognized her child. When, at one point, he refused to go home with her, her worry grew so great that she decided to seek help.

– I immediately felt that he would end up in trouble. Or he would do something himself. So I said, enough is enough. We’re going to the police.

The father also recounted in interviews that the parents had tried to get help from social services before finally going to the police.

The Girl: Wanted to Sabotage the Murder

After the boy and his mother told the police about the murder plot, investigators were able to identify the 16-year-old girl who had also been recruited. She gave a different account in her interviews as to why she accepted the job.

The girl said she had seen an ad on social media, possibly Snapchat, offering big money for a job. According to her, she understood that it was likely something that would hurt another person.

Yet she contacted the advertiser. In a June 30 interview, she explained that she wanted to figure out what the task was and then try to prevent it from happening.

– I figured I’d delay the whole process.

Her plan, according to her account, was to say yes but then sabotage the attempt, so the intended target would have more time. The girl also described the boy as inexperienced with handling firearms.

When he at one point brought out the pistols in a wooded area, she reacted strongly to how carelessly he handled them. She said he even pointed a gun at her at one point.

The girl said she became scared and felt the boy was incapable of committing the murder. However, her claim that she only wanted to sabotage the assignment has not freed her from criminal liability.

Six More Firearms Found

The investigation also led the police to a storage unit in Sandeslätt, Hammarkullen, where the teens had picked up the murder weapons. During a search warrant on June 3, six functional firearms were found.

A woman in her late twenties was linked to the weapons storage and charged with an especially serious weapons offense. She has now been sentenced to five years in prison. The investigation thus shows that the pistols given to the teenagers were not the only weapons stored at the address.

Parents Sentenced to Prison

Despite the parents ultimately seeking help from the police, they were brought to court for their involvement with the weapons and for helping their son evade the consequences of his crime.

Both the mother and father have been sentenced to one year and six months in prison for aiding and abetting aggravated weapons offenses and serious protection of a criminal.

The district court at the same time acknowledged that the parents’ intention was to help their son out of a very difficult situation. Their actions are described in the judgment as a misguided attempt to help him. But the court ruled this does not change the fact that they knowingly contributed to the weapons being returned.

The fact that the boy was threatened by the contractors is an important part of the context behind the events. However, this does not entitle the parents to help return the murder weapons to the criminals.

Relative Fled to the Faroe Islands

The male relative who accompanied the boy to Gothenburg is sentenced to four years in prison. After the events, he traveled to the Faroe Islands, where he stayed in hiding. Even during this period, he received financial help from the boy’s parents, who lent him money for travel and living expenses.

The man has claimed in interviews that he did not regard his actions as criminal, but as a way to prevent his nephew from committing murder. He has also expressed confusion as to why he is being held responsible.

Secure Youth Detention for Both Minors

The 15-year-old boy was sentenced to nine months in secure youth detention, while the 16-year-old girl received 16 months.

Both were primarily convicted of preparation to commit murder. According to the court’s assessment, the boy’s total criminality would have resulted in a seven-year prison sentence if he had been an adult.