The 16-year-old suspect in custody for the brutal triple murder in Uppsala, Sweden, is of Somali origin, Swedish media report. Documents obtained by the daily Expressen show that social services were concerned about “the people XX associates with, that they are involved in crime, suspected of drug offenses and other types of violent crimes”
For nearly a decade, the teen—now a murder suspect—has been known to social services, with concerns raised both about his care and his own behavior. The father has served short prison terms for various crimes and has a history of khat use and suspected domestic violence.
The family had been offered therapy and drug testing, Expressen’s sources said.
Instead, last year, his mother brought him and his siblings back to Somalia to “break the negative development of his ‘norm-breaking’ behavior,” the paper reports. After nine months in the family’s country of origin, the 16-year-old returned to Sweden and his old associates in February of this year. Over the few months since then, he’s managed to become a suspect in a slew of offenses, including drug crimes, violating the Knife Act, and receiving illicit funds.
A decision was made to take him into mandatory custody—but that never happened. Three weeks ago, he ran away from the youth home he had been placed in.
At the time of his apprehension, the suspect was at his family’s home, soaking his clothes in Clorox, according to Aftonbladet’s sources.
MEP Alice Teodorescu Måwe (Christian Democrats) commented on X that there is an urgent need to, “in plain Swedish, throw out more criminals who disrupt the security and freedom of well-behaved people in our country.”
