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Suspected gang leader shot dead outside mosque in Örebro

Richard Orange
Richard Orange - richard.orange@thelocal.com
Suspected gang leader shot dead outside mosque in Örebro
Police gather outside the mosque in Örebro, Sweden. Photo: Filip Grönroos/TT

The 25-year old man shot and killed as he left Friday prayers at a mosque in Örebro, was the leader of one of the city's most notorious gangs, Swedish media reported.

Witnesses described how an assailant pumped a barrage of shots into the man as he left the mosque in Boglundsängen, to the west of the city, with the target left lying injured on the ground. The perpetrator is still at large, and a second man, also in his 20s, is being treated in hospital. 

"He was on his way out of the mosque, then another man came up and fired off four or five shots. Then he fired off more shots as he was lying on the slope," the witness told Sweden's public broadcaster SVT

At a press conference at 6pm, the police said that at least one perpetrator had been seen fleeing the scene but that as yet no one had been arrested .

"An intensive hunt is taking place right now aimed at arresting the person or persons behind the shooting," Roberto Eid Forest, a local police chief in Örebro, told the Expressen newspaper. Police have launched an investigation into murder, attempted murder and weapons offences.

"Police currently see no connection to the mosque, but instead see the attack as connected to criminal groupings in Örebro," police said in a press release.  

According to both the SR and SVT public broadcasters, the killed and injured men were both part of the the Oxhagen network, which since 2021 has been engaged in a conflict with the Varberga and Baronbackarna groups in the city. SVT reported that the man who was shot was held in custody earlier this year on suspicion of narcotics offences. 

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On February 4th, Örebro was the site of one of Sweden's worst-ever school shootings, when Rickard Andersson launched an attack at the Campus Risbergska adult education college. Andersson shot dead ten victims and injured six others before turning his gun on himself. 

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