'I am not into eating people': sniper suspect

A year prior to the shooting of a 23-year-old man in Malmö, suspected serial killer Peter Mangs sought medical help due to an increased interest in death and a fear “he might hurt someone”, according to the prosecution.

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On Monday, the district court in Malmö is hearing testimony regarding the murder of a 23-year-old man who was killed in the stairwell of his apartment building in Malmö in July 2003.

The 23-year-old victim suffered a gunshot wound to the head and later died in hospital. One bullet was salvaged from a door near his dwelling.

When Mangs was arrested in 2010, the forensic investigation showed that the bullet was compatible with weapons discovered in his apartment.

“Mangs denies the charge. He hasn’t been at the scene of the crime and the victim is not someone he has ever met, seen or even heard of before reading about the incident in the paper,” said defence lawyer Douglas Norking.

According to the prosecutor, Mangs sought medical help about a year before the incident, talking about a film on cannibalism and showing an enhanced interest in death.

Mangs told the court he had no memory of this.

“I have no interest in eating people,” Mangs told the court.

However, he conceded that he might have been afraid of hurting someone.

“That is probably correct. But then I have been carrying out extensive research in psychology and psychiatry and that was one of my interests at the time,” he said to the court.

He also wanted a medical expert’s "take on things”, he said, and a picture of his brain.

“As they drilled a hole into my brain when I was young,” he told the court.

When asked for what purpose he required such an image he answered:

“Just as a piece of art.”

When asked a direct question about whether Mangs had sought medical attention because he was afraid he might kill someone he answered that “it might have been”.

Six months prior to the 23-year-old’s death, Mangs acquired a weapons licence and several guns, according to the prosecutor.

When asked why he did that, seeing as he was afraid he might kill someone, Mangs answered somewhat cryptically that there are “several ways to kill a person.”

TT/The Local/rm
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