In early October, gunshots were fired around the ears of visitors at the Kungsmässan shopping center in Kungsbacka. A 23-year-old gang criminal man was targeted for a murder attempt but survived. Three men are now being prosecuted for the murder plans, but the hired shooter, who was paid, escapes prosecution as he is only 14 years old.

It is becoming increasingly common for criminal gangs to recruit minors to commit the most serious crimes, such as murder. Incentives for this exist in Swedish criminal policy, where young criminals are given significant sentence reductions or – as in this case – cannot be prosecuted at all.

READ MORE: Shop employee shot in shopping center in Kungsbacka

An example of this is the notorious gang shooting at Kungsmässan in Kungsbacka on October 6 last year. A masked shooter fired between six and ten shots in the shopping center but missed so badly that the intended murder victim, a well-known gang criminal profile with a Swedish-sounding name, survived.

It was known that the gang member was under threat, and he had been offered police protection but declined. Nevertheless, he was employed as a shop assistant, and it was at his workplace that he was shot, with an obvious risk of a third person being injured or killed.

Shooter too young to be prosecuted

Police quickly arrested the suspected shooter, who turned out to be only 14 years old. This means that he cannot be brought to justice and escapes punishment even if found guilty.

According to the police investigation, the youngster was recruited and contracted to murder the 23-year-old. The agreed compensation is said to have been 56,000 kronor if the mission succeeded, which it did not.

Three men stand trial

Police suspect several non-legal age persons of involvement in the crime. Currently, three men born in 2000, 2002, and 2003 are being prosecuted for attempted murder and serious weapons offenses. They deny the charges.

All of them have immigrant backgrounds, and in two cases, the accused lack Swedish citizenship. For these two, the prosecutor has requested deportation.

In one case, it concerns Bulgaria. In the other case, citizenship is said to be from a “ceased country,” which may complicate enforcement even if the court follows the prosecutor’s line.

All accused previously convicted of crimes

The man born in a “ceased country” in 2002 is named Jovan Djordjevic and has been previously convicted of, among other things, threatening a public official, drug offenses, assault, serious weapons offenses but has still been allowed to stay in Sweden.
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The man born in Bulgaria in 2003 is named Marselo Zinkov Kirilov and has been previously convicted of, among other things, several cases of assault, driving without a license, multiple robberies, repeated drug offenses, false registration offenses, drug driving, and driving without a license but has still been allowed to stay in Sweden.
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The man born in 2000 with Swedish citizenship is named Mateo Djordjevic and has been previously convicted of, among other things, driving without a license and theft. He has also been charged with shoplifting but acquitted.