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National

Men jailed for shooting each other in duel

Published: 19 Jul 11 14:16 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/35038/20110719/

Two men in Kalmar, in the south of Sweden, who had met up to settle a score between them through a game of “ last man standing” were sentenced to five years in prison by a court on Tuesday for attempting to murder each other.

The charges against the men state that the 39-year-old and the 42-year-old had made arrangements to meet up on a bicycle path in the Funkabo part of Kalmar, on April 1st this year.

In a text message between the two a duel was mentioned – a game of “last man standing”, according to local paper Barometern.

The 38-year-old, who was armed with a gun, brought with him his 29-year-old friend and once on the scene he fired upon the 42-year-old, who was hit in the left buttock.

When he fell to the ground both of the other men kicked and beat him and sprayed tear gas in his face, according to the prosecutor.

In connection with the assault the 42-year-old turned his own gun on the 38-year-old, injuring him in his chest and hip.

Both men survived the injuries and are both claiming to have acted in self-defence.

The court however, did not agree with them and they were subsequently sentenced to five years in prison for the attempted murder of each other.

The 29-year-old accomplice was sentenced to three years in prison.

TT/Rebecca Martin (news@thelocal.se)

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14:39 July 19, 2011 by calebian22
A dueling society is a polite society.
15:11 July 19, 2011 by The_Truthisbitter
Its the Wild Wild West..
15:33 July 19, 2011 by el dorado
In the spirit of Swedish censorship, I suggest that all references be removed that link males to violence. To name gender in connection with violence only serves to perpetuate the stereotype that men are violent - when most men, of course, are not violent.

Ages should also be removed so there is no generational bias.
16:02 July 19, 2011 by storstark
so my taxes are contributing to their upkeep for the next few years, not to mention their defence lawyers... a more cost effective solution might have been to simply reload their weapons for them and say "varsågoda"
16:09 July 19, 2011 by axiom
had to check the date twice to make sure this wasn't an April Fools.
16:54 July 19, 2011 by Swedesmith
Whatever happened to good ol' fashioned fisticuffs?
17:32 July 19, 2011 by mba0021
Duel for what?
18:39 July 19, 2011 by Gabin
Svensk Barry Lyndon...
18:39 July 19, 2011 by BillyB
great picture! do hope the people in the story dressed in suitable attire.

If so, they should be allowed to continue with the duel !
18:57 July 19, 2011 by McChatter
I would love to know what they were fighting about! A woman, maybe? Who said swedes were staid?
19:27 July 19, 2011 by Englishted
The one being kicked ,have gas in his face after being shoot and on the floor ,was not acting in self defense ?.

What must they do to you before you are?.

@McChatter

The were fighting cause one called the other staid :-)
20:06 July 19, 2011 by jamesblish
Ok now I've gotta hear that Will Smith song again...
21:21 July 19, 2011 by blursd
@ El Dorado

That's almost exactly what I was thinking ...
02:32 July 20, 2011 by GLO
Now this a good way to settle things, I kind of think this could work, screw the courts.
14:29 July 20, 2011 by zooeden
That is retarded!!!!!
15:48 July 20, 2011 by KennyC
What a couple of asswipes!!!! What were they dueling over? A six pack of Folk beer???
10:59 July 21, 2011 by KungsholmenGuy
The 42 year old was shot in the left buttock, clearly indicating that he was shot while he was still walking away from the other at the start of the duel, so the 38 year old not only cheated by shooting early, he and his accomplice then kicked and tear gassed the 42 year old when he was down. Agree that it certainly sounds more like self defence for the 42 year old than the 38 year old.

But then the whole concept of self defense is ridiculous in a mutually agreed upon fight to the death. Or rather a fight to literally see who was the last man standing, since nobody died. They may not have actually intended to kill each other when you think about the details here.

So they should have received sentences for 'attempted serious injury' rather than attempted murder, in my opinion, but the Swedish legal system is so lame that a more serious charge was appropriate, because it carries a sligtly longer sentence. Of course the sentence is still too short. If someone tried to kill me, I would want that person locked up forever, not only 5 years (with likely release on probabtion after 1 year).
14:52 July 22, 2011 by DAVID T
great shots - how did he manage to shoot him in the ass?
18:26 July 22, 2011 by skylarkpilot
Are they sharing a cell perhaps.....?

There may be a part two to this story.
21:15 July 22, 2011 by Coalbanks
Ist duelist was shot, sprayed, kicked by other duelist & his second so he was assaulted (no pun intended!), the others were guilty f assault (oops! again the ass pun!). His shots were self-defense!
13:36 July 23, 2011 by reason
If you arrive with a gun, intending to shoot someone, it doesn't matter who happened to shoot first. Claiming self defense is ridiculous.
01:22 August 2, 2011 by P.Sturm
5 years on the taxpayers tab? Just give them back their guns, it's a self-solving problem.
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