Award-winning rapper shot to death in Sweden
STOCKHOLM >> An awardwinning 19-year-old Swedish rapper was shot to death in southern Stockholm in an incident that media reports on Friday said was likely to be gangrelated.
The case has shocked the Swedish entertainment world and highlighted what officials said was the urgent need to deal with growing criminal gang activity in the Nordic country.
The rapper Einar was struck by several bullets in the Hammarby Sjostad suburb south of central Stockholm and died on
the spot late Thursday, police spokesman Ola Osterling told the Swedish news agency TT.
Police are looking for at least two suspects who allegedly shot the rapper.
The motive of the shooting remains unclear but the
Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported that the rapper had received several threats recently. It said without providing details that Einar was shot from point-blank range, “execution style.”
According to the Swedish public broadcaster SVT, the rapper’s shooting was gang-related.
Einar, whose real name is Nils Gronberg, was born in Stockholm and rose to fame at the age of 16 when his song “Katten i trakten,” from his debut album “Forsta klass” topped the Swedish charts in 2019.
He won the song of the year award in 2019 and the newcomer of the year award a year later. Einar’s songs have been downloaded hundreds of thousands of times on Spotify.
“I understand that he (Einar) meant a lot to many young people,” Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told SVT. “This is of course tragic. It is a young life that has been extinguished.”
Christian Democratic party leader Ebba Busch posted on Twitter that if politicians don’t take responsibility for dealing with gang-related crime, “we can’t stand up for human dignity or security in the country.”