Mother and child injured in explosion south of Stockholm, police investigated after racism allegations in murder case of 14-year-old Mohamed, and rain could put a damper on Walpurgis festivities. Here’s the latest news.
Mother and child injured in explosion south of Stockholm
A mother and a young child are seriously injured after a suspected explosion in their home in Tumba, south-west of Stockholm, shortly before midnight.
Emergency services were dispatched to the explosion at 11.42pm on Sunday and a fire was already raging by the time they arrived. Firefighters managed to keep the fire from spreading to the other terraced houses and extinguished the flames by 1.30am.
According to the emergency services, a man, a woman and two underage children live in the house.
Initial reports suggested a lamp had exploded inside the home, but police now believe the blast was caused by an external person, reports the Aftonbladet tabloid.
No arrests had been made by 3am.
Swedish vocabulary: a terraced house – ett radhus
Several held over deadly shooting in Eskilstuna
Several people are being held in connection with a fatal shooting in the town of Eskilstuna, a couple of hours west of Stockholm, on Sunday.
A man aged around 20 was shot dead in the Årby district of Eskilstuna, where several shootings have been reported in recent years.
He was found with gunshot wounds at a bus stop shortly after 7pm and was taken by ambulance to hospital, where he died a few hours later.
Several people were arrested on Sunday evening.
“We’re at an early stage of the investigation so I can’t say what the various people are suspected of, because it’s not clear who is suspected of what,” police officer Victor Bergman told Swedish news agency TT.
Swedish vocabulary: to suspect – att misstänka
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Swedish police investigated after allegations of racism
Sweden’s Parliamentary Ombudsmen (Justitieombudsmannen or JO in Swedish) are set to investigate the police authority over how it handled the disappearance of 14-year-old Mohamed – who was kidnapped and later murdered by gang members.
The probe comes after public radio station P4 Jönköping revealed that police officers had made flippant remarks about the boy’s mother when she contacted police to raise the alarm. They had also failed to bring in an interpreter to be able to question the Somali mother, calling it “overkill” and instead relying on Mohamed’s 12-year-old little sister to translate for them.
The report by P4 Jönköping has grabbed headlines in Swedish media and police have faced accusations of racism.
“I have reacted to the media reports and want to form my own opinion about the matter,” JO Per Lennerbrant said in a statement.
Malena Grann, the head of the Eastern police region, said she welcomed the investigation.
“It’s a very tragic event and I understand if the family feel they were not taken seriously. I am really sorry,” she said in a statement, saying she and the police authority did not support the language used by the officers. “That we treat people equally must never be doubted.”
Mohamed and his friend Layth were kidnapped and killed by members of the criminal Foxtrot network in 2023.
Swedish vocabulary: to understand – att förstå
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Rain may put a damper on early Walpurgis celebrations
It’s set to rain on Walpurgis night, when Swedes light bonfires to welcome the arrival of spring, according to weather agency SMHI.
The rain is expected to batter central Sweden and southern Norrland in particular on Wednesday, but there is some hope: it’s expected to subside by the evening, so it could yet be dry when the bonfires are set to be lit around dusk.
Southern Sweden is expected to get temperatures of around 10-15C, central Sweden 5-10C and Norrland a few degrees colder.
Walpurgis night, or Valborgsmässoafton, is when Swedes celebrate the end of the harsh winter and look forward to the summer sunshine.
It takes its name from Saint Walpurga, an English missionary who promoted Christianity in other parts of Europe, especially Germany, who was for centuries remembered on April 30th, but the tradition of lighting fires around this time dates back to pre-Christian times in Sweden.
These days it has nothing to do with religion and is mainly seen as a way of celebrating the arrival of spring.
Swedish vocabulary: a bonfire – ett bål