Picture: File Photo
Stockholm: A Swedish court sentenced a 21-year-old to life in prison on Tuesday for a triple murder at a hair salon last year that drew attention to the country's criminal networks.
The bodies of two boys aged 15 and 16 and a 20-year-old man -- who had all been shot in the head -- were discovered slumped in the corner of a barber's shop in central Uppsala, the day before the university town's popular spring festival.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said at the time the "extremely violent act" resembled "an execution".
Investigators believe the perpetrator was acting as a contract killer for a criminal network, court papers said.
But the person who ordered the murders has not been identified and prosecutor Andreas Nyberg told AFP in February that investigators did not know why the victims had been killed.
"The crimes for which he is being sentenced are exceptionally brutal and have led to the deaths of three young people," judge Daniel Gustavsson said on Tuesday.
"(They) have affected the lives of a large number of people, not least the relatives of those who were killed."
Gustavsson said "no penalty other than life imprisonment" had been considered for the defendant.
He was also convicted of the attempted murder of two men in the southern city of Eslov a fortnight before the Uppsala murders.
Both victims were shot and wounded but survived.
The Uppsala murders happened as the town was preparing for outdoor spring celebrations that attract more than 100,000 people each year.
Nyberg said the perpetrator initially opened fire on two men outside the hair salon.
Neither died and one ran into the salon and hid in the toilet.
The gunman then entered the salon, where he shot the three victims dead.
Nyberg said they may not have been the intended targets.
Over the past three years, 23 innocent bystanders have been killed and 30 wounded in gangland shootings, police said earlier this month.
Criminal gangs in Sweden rely on a loosely structured system of recruitment via social media and encrypted apps designed to entice children and young adults to join.
This allows the leaders to hide behind several layers of online intermediaries.
Sweden, Europol and 10 other European countries launched a taskforce called "Grimm" in April 2025 to target what they dub the surge in "violence as a service".
