Young men were getting a haircut ahead of a festival - then they were shot dead
Ahead of Sweden's Walpurgis festival to mark the start of spring, young people were busy selecting outfits or getting their hair done. Not all of them made it there alive.
At a hair salon in Uppsala, a city north of Stockholm, three young men who police say were aged between 15 and 20 were shot dead on Tuesday before the celebrations started.
The horror left many shaken in the build-up to the festival, known as Valborg in Swedish, which is typically a convivial affair each 30 April on the eve of the Christian feast day of Saint Walpurga. Celebrated nationwide, Uppsala hosts the country's largest and most high-profile Walpurgis events, popular with students.
The partying did go ahead in full swing, but a subtle heaviness hung over the Swedish blue and yellow flags which fluttered around the city.
And now, with the festival finished, it's only police tape - not flags - fluttering outside the basement barber shop where the shooting took place close to Vaksala Square.
"It's really sad," says 20-year-old student Yamen Alchoum, who is in the area to eat at a nearby food truck. He says he was at another barber shop on the night of the shootings, but previously had his hair cut at this salon multiple times. "I think if I was there [on Tuesday]…I would be, like, involved in the shooting. And it's a bit scary."
According to witnesses speaking to Swedish media TV4 and Aftonbladet, two of the young victims were dressed in barber capes and sat in parlour chairs when they were shot in the head just after 5pm on Tuesday.
The city centre was busy at the time as commuters made their way to the nearby train station and students from the city's prestigious university cycled back to their flats.
Witnesses reported hearing loud bangs which many mistook for fireworks. Minutes later several police cars and an ambulance arrived, blocking the street and forcing a bus to turn around. Helicopters and drones were dispatched to try and track down the suspect. Local media reported that he had worn a mask and used an electric scooter to get away from the scene.
"I heard the helicopters, so then I knew that something had happened," says Sara, a 32-year-old who lives on the street. She says her phone quickly lit up with news notifications and texts from friends asking if she was okay.
Around two hours after the shootings, police arrested a 16-year-old boy. In Sweden, suspects can be held based on different levels of suspicion, and the teenager was initially held at the second-highest level, indicating strong suspicion.
However, by Friday, prosecutors said the case against him had weakened and he was released.
On Saturday, Swedish police confirmed that six people have now been arrested in connection with the case. The suspects range in age from under 18 to 45, according to the state prosecutor's office, and one is suspected of carrying out the killings.
People intending to visit Uppsala for the Walpurgis festival were advised not to change their plans, as police promised extra resources on the cathedral city's streets and suggested the shooting was likely an "isolated incident".
While many were shaken, tens of thousands of Swedes still heeded their advice, packing the banks of Uppsala's Fyris river to watch the annual student raft race, drinking in the city's pubs and parks or heading to a huge public bonfire in the evening. Others joined the annual spring ceremony outside the university where current and former students gathered to wave white caps.
"I don't really feel so scared," says Alvin Rose, 19, a social studies student, having a snack in Vaksala Square, just around the corner from where the shootings happened. "It feels like there's more security, more cops about."
His friend Kassandra Fritz, an 18-year-old natural sciences student, says she has driven to Uppsala from her home in Gävle, two hours north, to "have fun and meet new people".
She reflects that she no longer has a "strong" reaction to news about shootings in Sweden since they are frequently in the headlines. "There's been so many shootings lately, not only here in Uppsala but like, everywhere in Sweden."
Over the past decade, Sweden has emerged as a European hotspot for gun crime, often linked to criminal networks. Research for Sweden's National Council for Crime Prevention released last year concluded that the profile of perpetrators is "increasingly younger", with growing numbers of teenagers both carrying out or dying from gun violence.
Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was on a work trip to Valencia when the Uppsala shooting took place, but has since described it as "an extremely violent act".
"This underlines that the wave of violence is not over - it continues," he said in an interview with Swedish news agency TT on Wednesday.
At a news conference the day after, officers said they were investigating the possibility that the deaths were linked to gang crime, but said it was too soon to confirm this.
Police in various Swedish cities have previously said it is becoming more common for gangs to contract vulnerable children to carry out crimes, because those who are 15 or younger are below the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden.
Sweden's government recently proposed controversial new legislation that would allow police to wiretap children, in an attempt to prevent them from being recruited to teenage gangs.
Ministers have also said they want to tighten the country's gun laws.
In February, 10 people were killed in the country's worst mass shooting at an adult education centre in the Swedish town of Orebro. In this case, police suspect a 35-year-old was behind the killings. He legally owned a weapon, and was found dead inside the building.
Outside the hair salon in Uppsala, 20-year-old Yamen says he has never been involved in gang crime but knows plenty of others who have.
"Many times in my school, there was gang violence, and in the streets - dealers," he says. "But my personality was to work, study, and now I am in college."
As he leaves to meet friends, a steady stream of young people continue to stop at the street corner next to the hairdressers, some bringing bouquets of flowers. Several appear visibly shaken and have tears in their eyes.
"I knew him very well," says Elias, a 16-year-old who says he was friends with one of the victims, and has asked the BBC not to share his surname. "It feels unreal, you know. It doesn't feel like I've truly accepted the situation."
Spread of gang violence wrecks Sweden's peaceful image
Teenage guns for hire: Swedish gangs targeting Israeli interests
Sweden plans to remove citizenship from people seen as threat to state

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
First Thing: Donald Trump sends Marines to LA as mayor says city being used as ‘experiment'
Good morning. About 700 US marines were en route to Los Angeles on Tuesday after Donald Trump mobilized them the day before in response to protests over immigration raids. The president also doubled the number of national guard members to 4,000, in an extraordinary mobilization of troops against US residents that California leaders have called 'authoritarian'. The Pentagon mobilized the 700 active-duty marines after tensions between the federal government and the nation's second-largest city dramatically escalated over the weekend, with residents taking to the streets to demonstrate against a series of brutal crackdowns on immigrant communities. The raids have affected garment district works, day laborers and restaurants. Federal agents also arrested the president of a major California union who was serving as a community observer during the raids. Despite facing teargas and other munitions over the weekend, protesters continued to rally yesterday, and families of detained immigrants pleaded for their loved ones to be released. How is California responding? The state has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing the US president of 'unlawfully' federalizing the state's national guard to quell a domestic protest. Days before Pete Hegseth fired three top aides last month over a Pentagon leak investigation into the disclosure of classified materials, according to four people familiar with the episode, a recently hired senior adviser said he could help with the inquiry. The adviser, Justin Fulcher, suggested to Hegseth's then chief of staff, and Hegseth's personal lawyer, Tim Parlatore, that he knew of warrantless surveillance conducted by the National Security Agency (NSA) that had identified the leakers. Fulcher offered to share the supposed evidence as long as he could help run the investigation, three of the people said. But when he eventually sat down with officials, it became clear he had no evidence of a wiretap, and the Pentagon had been duped. The extraordinary episode adds to the growing portrait of dysfunction inside Hegseth's front office. What happened next? The development was not communicated to the White House – so several Trump advisers who were told of the NSA wiretap claim believed that was part of the 'smoking gun' evidence against the three aides fired by Hegseth, until they developed their own doubts. The Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg was leaving Tel Aviv on a flight to France after having been detained earlier with other activists on a Gaza-bound aid boat, Israel said today. 'Greta Thunberg is departing Israel on a flight to France,' Israel's foreign ministry said on its official X account, along with two photos of the activist on board a plane. The group of activists departed Italy on 1 June aboard the Madleen carrying a symbolic amount of food and supplies for Gaza, whose population is at risk of famine. Israeli forces intercepted the boat in international waters yesterday and towed it to the port of Ashdod. What about the other activists? 'The passengers of the 'Selfie Yacht' arrived at Ben Gurion airport to depart from Israel and return to their home countries,' the Israeli foreign ministry said. 'Those who refuse to sign deportation documents and leave Israel will be brought before a judicial authority.' The health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, is getting rid of all 17 members on a key panel of vaccine experts and will replace them, he said yesterday. A former girlfriend of Sean 'Diddy' Combs told jurors in his sex-trafficking and racketeering trial that she repeatedly told the music mogul she didn't want to have sex with other men. Authorities said a Chinese scientist was arrested while arriving at a Detroit airport for the alleged smuggling of biological material, the second such case in two days. Donald Trump unveiled a federal program yesterday providing $1,000 government-funded investment accounts for American babies, getting backing from top business leaders who said they plan to contribute billions more to an initiative tied to 'the big beautiful bill'. Graphic sexual content, bullying, abuse and threats of violence are rife on Meta-owned products. Now Meta is pumping billions of dollars a year into building its metaverse, a virtual world for education, business, shopping and live events. But if Meta has utterly failed to keep women and girls safe in its existing online spaces, why should we trust it with the future? The unexplained deaths of hundreds of elephants near watering holes across the Okavango delta in May 2020 alarmed conservationists. Nearly five years later, scientists finally published a paper indicating what they believe to be the reason behind the deaths: toxic water caused by an algal bloom. Millions of people are prevented from having the number of children they want by a toxic mix of economic barriers and sexism, a new UN report has warned. While right-wing governments, including the US and Hungary, are increasingly blaming falling fertility rates on a rejection of parenthood, the report found most people wanted children. Gen Z are making headlines for their hesitancy to use bar tabs – instead preferring to close out and pay after every single drink, no matter how many rounds they order. But do younger people have a monopoly on poor bar etiquette? Alaina Demopoulos spoke to bartenders across the US about which generation behaves best. First Thing is delivered to thousands of inboxes every weekday. If you're not already signed up, subscribe now. If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email newsletters@
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Bishop's village attacked, 20 slain after recent testimony to Congress on Christian persecution
FIRST ON FOX: A Nigerian bishop has been threatened and his home village murderously attacked after he appealed to lawmakers at a March congressional hearing for the killing of Christians to stop. Bishop Wilfred Anagbe told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview this week that after he went to Washington to testify, four fatal attacks in 10 days by "terrorist Jihadists" had happened in his diocese, the area he is responsible for. Nigeria is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a Christian, according to NGO Open Doors International's 2025 World Watch List (WWL). Of the 4,476 Christians killed worldwide in WWL's latest reporting period, 3,100 of those who died – 69% – were in Nigeria. Fears Remain This Easter That Christians In Nigeria Are Being 'Wiped Out' By Muslim Extremists Open Doors U.K., added in a statement, "Jihadist violence continues to escalate in Nigeria, and Christians are at particular risk from targeted attacks by Islamic militant groups, including Fulani militants, Boko Haram and ISWAP (Islamic State West Africa Province)." One leader of one of the biggest churches in Africa's most populous nation, using the pseudonym "Pastor Winyadebi" because he's worried about his safety, told Fox News Digital. "It has been attacks upon attacks, religious violence. And we say this because the communities that are attacked are Christian communities." Read On The Fox News App "What they (Islamist militants) want is to be sure that Islam [takes] over every part of these places. … And so they're doing everything to make sure that Christianity is brought down and Islam is [the] established No. 1. They want to make sure that Sharia law (strict Islamic law) has taken over Nigeria," he said. Anagbe's Makurdi Diocese in north-central Nigeria is almost exclusively Christian. But the constant and escalating attacks by Islamist Fulani militants led him to testify at a congressional hearing in March. In April, several foreign embassies in Abuja, Nigeria, warned the bishop of credible high-level official threats: that he would be detained upon arrival in Nigeria from the U.S. and that "something might happen to him." This led to Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., Anagbe's congressional host and chair of the House Africa Subcommittee, to write in a statement: "I am appalled by reports that Bishop Wilfred Anagbe and Father Remigius Ihyula (who testified alongside Bishop Anagbe) are facing threats—allegedly from Nigerian government sources and affiliated organizations—because of the Bishop's testimony before Congress detailing violence in Nigeria's Benue State. They reflect a troubling pattern of retaliation linked to testimony before Congress on religious freedom abuses in Nigeria." Christians Increasingly Persecuted Worldwide As 'Modern And Historical Factors Converge' The U.S. Mission in Nigeria on April 10 posted on X calling for the bishop's "right to speak freely without fear of retribution or retaliation," declaring that intimidation and threats had been made "because of their March 12 testimony." Then the attacks, larger and more frequent than before, started, with four attacks between May 23 and June 1. Anagbe told Fox News Digital that "what has been happening in my village and diocese is nothing short of terror attacks on innocent villagers in order to seize their lands and occupy." "On the 23rd [of] May, one of my priests, Father Solomon Atongo, was shot in the leg by these terrorists and almost lost his life. On the 25th of May, my village, Aondona, was attacked for hours, leaving over 20 people dead, scores injured and thousands now displaced and living in makeshift camps," he said. "On the 1st of June, terror was unleashed on Naka town, with many killed and displaced," Anagbe continued. "This attack was so intense that even those earlier displaced and taking refuge in a nearby school were not spared. All over Nigeria, these terrorists are going about on a jihad and conquering territories and renaming them accordingly." "I have been speaking about this genocide for some years now, but whereas in the past some others saw my advocacy with the political lens, today almost everyone in Nigeria has seen the truth for what it is, especially after my testimony in the U.S. Congress." The bishop ended the interview with a plea: "The world has a lot to do. First of all, the world must learn from past mistakes, the Holocaust and most recently the Rwandan genocide. In both cases, the world hid its face in the sand like an ostrich. If the world does not rise up now to put a stop to the atrocities orchestrated in the name of being politically correct, it may wake up one day to casualties that make the Rwandan genocide a child's play. Keeping quiet would be to promote the genocide or ethnic cleansing in Nigeria." While the Nigerian government did not respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment, the Catholic Herald reported that the Nigerian Foreign Ministry had contacted the U.S. regarding the bishop's testimony, noting that "any reports of threats or intimidation against religious leaders would be investigated and appropriate actions would be taken."Original article source: Bishop's village attacked, 20 slain after recent testimony to Congress on Christian persecution
Yahoo
37 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Greta Thunberg among Gaza-flotilla activists deported from Israel
June 10 (UPI) -- Swedish activist Greta Thunberg was on a flight to France on Tuesday en route home to Sweden after being deported from Israel a day after the Gaza-bound aid yacht she was on was intercepted by the Israeli military off the coast of Egypt and diverted to Israel. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said the 22-year-old left the country and posted photos on X of her boarding what appeared to be a commercial flight and sitting in an aisle seat with her belt fastened. It had been only around 12 hours since the British-flagged Madleen arrived at the southern Israeli port of Ashdod under Israeli naval escort late Monday. She was accompanied by at least one French citizen who had also voluntarily agreed to be deported, according to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, but in a post on X, he said five other French nationals in the group would be subject to "a forced expulsion process." Barrot said the detained French citizens had consular access. Le Monde reported that European Parliament Member Rima Hassan was among the French contingent detained. The status of the other five people aboard the vessel -- from Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Turkey and Brazil -- was unclear, but the Foreign Ministry said those who refused to sign deportation documents and leave Israel would be brought before a judicial authority, in accordance with Israeli law, to authorize their deportation. It stressed that all the detainees had met with officials from their respective consulates. Israeli authorities, which have dismissed the mission by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition as a publicity stunt by celebrities, dubbing the effort the "selfie yacht," attempted to sway the activists by showing them a graphic 43-minute video of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on the orders of Israeli President Israel Katz. "I instructed the IDF to show the flotilla passengers the video of the horrors of the Oct. 7 massacre when they arrive at the port of Ashdod. It is appropriate that the anti-Semitic Greta and her fellow Hamas supporters see exactly who the Hamas terrorist organization they came to support and for whom they work is, what atrocities they committed against women, the elderly, and children, and against whom Israel is fighting to defend itself," Katz wrote on X. Katz claimed the group refused to continue watching once they found out what it was about. The FFC posted on social media in the early hours of Monday that the Madleen was under siege in international waters off Egypt, "surrounded by quadcopters", being doused with "a white irritant substance," and that its communications systems had been electronically jammed. "The ship was unlawfully boarded, its unarmed civilian crew abducted, and its life-saving cargo -- including baby formula, food and medical supplies -- confiscated," it said in a statement. Israel issued photos of activists being handed sandwiches and water by Israeli military personnel with a caption stating the group were on their way to Israel and "in good spirits, but the Israeli version of events was disputed by Thunberg in a video released by FFC. "If you see this video we have been intercepted and kidnapped in international waters by the Israeli occupational forces or forces that support Israel," she said in the 25 second clip on X in which she also urged her family and friends to lobby the Swedish government to push for their release as soon as possible. The Madleen set sail from Catania on Sicily, loaded with life-saving supplies on June 1 in an effort to break an 80-day blockade on international aid entering Gaza imposed by Israel after it pulled out of a U.S.-brokered cease-fire deal that lasted from January to March. In early May, Thunberg was scheduled to board another FFC vessel, the 1,000-ton Conscience, attempting to sail to Gaza when it was badly damaged in an alleged drone strike off Malta in the western Mediterranean. FFC said the vessel had been en route to Malta to pick up volunteers from at least 21 countries who had traveled to the island to join the mission when it was attacked, among them Thunberg and retired U.S. Army Colonel Mary Ann Wright. In May 2010, nine people involved in a similar mission to Gaza were killed and many others seriously wounded when Israeli forces intercepted the Mavi Marmara, part of a flotilla of six vessels, in international waters. A U.N. Panel of Inquiry ruled that the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force by Israeli forces during their takeover of the vessel were unacceptable and that they had provided no satisfactory explanation for any of the nine deaths, all of which were from gunshot wounds. "There was significant mistreatment of passengers by Israeli authorities after the takeover of the vessels had been completed through until their deportation. This included physical mistreatment, harassment and intimidation, unjustified confiscation of belongings and the denial of timely consular assistance." However, the report noted that Israeli Defense Forces personnel were confronted by significant, organized and violent resistance when they boarded the Mavi Marmara, requiring them to defend themselves, and that three soldiers were taken hostage and several others wounded.