Six People Shot – No One Prosecuted for Child Soldier's Mass Shooting

Six people were injured by gunfire when a 13-year-old boy opened fire in the midst of bar-goers in central Gävle. Despite being one of the most high-profile violent events in the city’s modern history, no one looks set to be brought to justice for the actual incident. The suspected shooter is too young to be prosecuted, and all other suspicions have gradually faded. At the same time, the investigation points to clear connections to organized gang crime and a suspected instigator linked to the Foxtrot network.

On a Friday evening in early October, the bar-dense area of Söderbacken in central Gävle was transformed from a place filled with restaurant guests and nightlife into a crime scene. Just before midnight, a 13-year-old youth opened fire on people on the street. The bullets hit six people, but according to the investigation, considerably more could have been killed or injured.

Prosecutors now estimate that another 22 people were within the risk area of the bullets. In total, the investigation therefore includes 28 victims. According to previous information from the investigators, the shots do not appear to have been aimed at any specific person, but were fired in a way that endangered the lives of everyone nearby.

Too Young to Be Prosecuted

The youth who fired the shots was apprehended the same night and has since been in care and placed by social services. Even though the investigation identifies the boy as the shooter, he will not face prosecution.

The reason is that he was only 13 years old at the time of the shooting. According to Swedish law, persons under 15 years of age cannot be held criminally responsible. Therefore, the prosecutor cannot file charges, regardless of how strong the evidence is.

Instead, the issue of guilt can be tried through a so-called ‘bevistalan’ (declaration of facts) in court. This process resembles a trial where the court considers whether the young person committed the act, but without the possibility of imposing any penalty. The investigation against the now 14-year-old boy is in its final stage, but no final decision has yet been made about whether a bevistalan will be sought.

During the legislative period, the Tidö coalition parties proposed lowering the age of criminal responsibility to 13. After criticism, they recently chose to withdraw the proposal.

Suspicions Against Others but Lack of Evidence

After the shooting, suspicion was also directed at several adults. One man in his mid-20s with ties to the criminal gang environment was, among others, remanded in custody.

He was suspected of serious weapons offenses and complicity in preparation for murder. Prosecutors suspected that he could have played a role in handling the weapon or in the planning behind the act.

But over the course of the investigation, these suspicions weakened. The man was released from custody already in November and was later dismissed from the investigation for lack of sufficient evidence.

The prosecutor has determined that it cannot be proven that any of the people suspected have committed a crime, and that further investigative measures are not expected to change the evidential situation in a decisive way. This means that, as things stand today, no one looks set to be prosecuted in the Gävle investigation.

Suspected Foxtrot Instigator Investigated in Another Case

A central question has been who was behind the fact that a 13-year-old ended up at Söderbacken with a loaded weapon. Suspicion has been directed at Ali Shehab, a man with ties to the criminal Foxtrot network. According to the investigation, he is suspected of having instigated the shooting from abroad.

Shehab was arrested in Iraq at the end of last year along with another man with Swedish citizenship. Swedish prosecutors have requested his extradition on suspicion of instigating several murders, but the process is expected to be lengthy as both men are also suspected of crimes in Iraq.

However, no indictment against Shehab will be brought as part of the Gävle investigation. That part of the case is being handled by another prosecution chamber and is part of a larger investigation into serious organized crime.

Recruited as a Child Soldier

Investigations by social services and earlier reviews show how the youth who held the weapon was gradually drawn into the immigrant-dominated criminal environment long before the shooting as a “child soldier.”

Already at the age of 12, he is said to have been offered to work for a criminal network. According to information that later emerged, he was on several occasions asked to carry out a shooting. The first times, no assignment was carried out, but the third time ended with the mass shooting in Gävle.

Over the year prior to the incident, authorities’ concerns grew. The school sounded the alarm about the youth glorifying gangster culture, social services described increasing association with criminal individuals, and police reported stays in environments marked by drug dealing and serious crime.

Several reports of concern were registered during the autumn. There was also information suggesting he might be considered for a future shooting assignment. On the same day as the deed, the youth is said to have declared an intent to kill someone.

On the evening of October 3, an immediate forced custody decision was made under the Care of Young Persons Act (LVU). The police were assigned to locate the boy and implement the decision. But by the time he was eventually found, the Söderbacken shooting had already happened.

The Municipality Reported Itself

The incident has also spurred self-criticism within the municipality. Despite repeated warning signals from the school, social services, police, and parents, authorities failed to bring the boy under control before the shooting took place.

READ MORE: Two Remanded over Gävle Shooting

Following an internal review, social services chose to file a Lex Sarah report with the Health and Social Care Inspectorate (Ivo). The review shows that concern about the boy’s development had existed for a long time and that several actors saw the risk of serious crime as high.

An Unusual Legal Outcome

With the investigation now approaching its end, the legal system faces an unusual result. The person suspected of firing the shots cannot be prosecuted due to his age. The adults previously suspected of involvement have been dismissed from the investigation due to lack of evidence. The suspected Foxtrot-linked instigator is abroad and under investigation in a separate matter.

The result is that a shooting, where six people were hit by bullets and a further 22 are deemed to have been put in mortal danger, is unlikely to lead to any prosecution for the act itself.

At the same time, the case has become one of the clearest examples of how criminal networks use increasingly younger people in violent assignments – and how a youth who was described by authorities as a high-risk individual could be recruited and exploited as a child soldier before society managed to intervene.