Uppsala shooting: Swedes react to horror amid Walpurgis festival
'I knew something had happened'
"It's really sad," says 20-year-old student Yamen Alchoum, who is in the area to eat at a nearby food truck. He says he was at another barber shop on the night of the shootings, but previously had his hair cut at this salon multiple times. "I think if I was there [on Tuesday]…I would be, like, involved in the shooting. And it's a bit scary."According to witnesses speaking to Swedish media TV4 and Aftonbladet, two of the young victims were dressed in barber capes and sat in parlour chairs when they were shot in the head just after 5pm on Tuesday.
The city centre was busy at the time as commuters made their way to the nearby train station and students from the city's prestigious university cycled back to their flats.Witnesses reported hearing loud bangs which many mistook for fireworks. Minutes later several police cars and an ambulance arrived, blocking the street and forcing a bus to turn around. Helicopters and drones were dispatched to try and track down the suspect. Local media reported that he had worn a mask and used an electric scooter to get away from the scene."I heard the helicopters, so then I knew that something had happened," says Sara, a 32-year-old who lives on the street. She says her phone quickly lit up with news notifications and texts from friends asking if she was okay.Around two hours after the shootings, police arrested a 16-year-old boy. In Sweden, suspects can be held based on different levels of suspicion, and the teenager was initially held at the second-highest level, indicating strong suspicion.However, by Friday, prosecutors said the case against him had weakened and he was released.
On Saturday, Swedish police confirmed that six people have now been arrested in connection with the case. The suspects range in age from under 18 to 45, according to the state prosecutor's office, and one is suspected of carrying out the killings.People intending to visit Uppsala for the Walpurgis festival were advised not to change their plans, as police promised extra resources on the cathedral city's streets and suggested the shooting was likely an "isolated incident".While many were shaken, tens of thousands of Swedes still heeded their advice, packing the banks of Uppsala's Fyris river to watch the annual student raft race, drinking in the city's pubs and parks or heading to a huge public bonfire in the evening. Others joined the annual spring ceremony outside the university where current and former students gathered to wave white caps."I don't really feel so scared," says Alvin Rose, 19, a social studies student, having a snack in Vaksala Square, just around the corner from where the shootings happened. "It feels like there's more security, more cops about."
His friend Kassandra Fritz, an 18-year-old natural sciences student, says she has driven to Uppsala from her home in Gävle, two hours north, to "have fun and meet new people".She reflects that she no longer has a "strong" reaction to news about shootings in Sweden since they are frequently in the headlines. "There's been so many shootings lately, not only here in Uppsala but like, everywhere in Sweden."
A hotspot for gun violence
Over the past decade, Sweden has emerged as a European hotspot for gun crime, often linked to criminal networks. Research for Sweden's National Council for Crime Prevention released last year concluded that the profile of perpetrators is "increasingly younger", with growing numbers of teenagers both carrying out or dying from gun violence.Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson was on a work trip to Valencia when the Uppsala shooting took place, but has since described it as "an extremely violent act"."This underlines that the wave of violence is not over - it continues," he said in an interview with Swedish news agency TT on Wednesday.At a news conference the day after, officers said they were investigating the possibility that the deaths were linked to gang crime, but said it was too soon to confirm this.
Police in various Swedish cities have previously said it is becoming more common for gangs to contract vulnerable children to carry out crimes, because those who are 15 or younger are below the age of criminal responsibility in Sweden.Sweden's government recently proposed controversial new legislation that would allow police to wiretap children, in an attempt to prevent them from being recruited to teenage gangs.Ministers have also said they want to tighten the country's gun laws.In February, 10 people were killed in the country's worst mass shooting at an adult education centre in the Swedish town of Orebro. In this case, police suspect a 35-year-old was behind the killings. He legally owned a weapon, and was found dead inside the building.
Tributes and tears
Outside the hair salon in Uppsala, 20-year-old Yamen says he has never been involved in gang crime but knows plenty of others who have."Many times in my school, there was gang violence, and in the streets - dealers," he says. "But my personality was to work, study, and now I am in college."As he leaves to meet friends, a steady stream of young people continue to stop at the street corner next to the hairdressers, some bringing bouquets of flowers. Several appear visibly shaken and have tears in their eyes."I knew him very well," says Elias, a 16-year-old who says he was friends with one of the victims, and has asked the BBC not to share his surname. "It feels unreal, you know. It doesn't feel like I've truly accepted the situation."
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Leader Live
12 hours ago
- Leader Live
Former priest led movement with ‘extremely disturbing' services, court hears
Christopher Brain, 68, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, was leader of the the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), part of the Church of England, in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995. Brain denies one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault between 1981 and 1995. The prosecution allege NOS became a cult where Brain abused his position to sexually assault a 'staggering number' of women followers, exerting control over their lives and ostracising them from friends and family. Inner London Crown Court has heard a 'homebase team' was set up to 'care for' Brain – referred to as 'the Lycra Lovelies' or 'the Lycra Nuns' – with witnesses reporting seeing the defendant surrounded by attractive women in lingerie at his home looking after his needs. Mark Stibbe was a curate of St Thomas's Church in Sheffield when NOS was holding services there. Giving evidence on Wednesday, he said there was 'concern' about the direction NOS was taking and discussion about Brain and what was going on at his home. He told the court: 'I remember one church administrator or finance officer at St Thomas's who was like an old school army man and he brought up the negative optics, potentially anyway, of scantily clad, lycra-wearing pretty young women as he put it coming to and from Chris Brain's house on a regular basis to perform 'domestic duties'.' The witness said the man got a 'roasting' for asking whether there was 'anything untoward' about it and that others at St Thomas's felt that if the church's vicar, Robert Warren, was not going to intervene then junior clergy had no business doing so. He said it did not appear to him that Reverend Warren was able to control Brain. He also recalled there was 'a lot of controversy' over the Greenbelt Christian arts festival 'into which NOS had poured many hours and many thousands of pounds'. Dr Stibbe moved to another church in 1993 but attended a NOS service once it had moved to a new location in Ponds Forge after a member of his congregation expressed concerns to him about it. Of his visit, he said: 'My view at the time was that it was extremely disturbing and that my friend who had said it was disturbing was correct. 'The reason I found it disturbing is that the things that had been reported from the Greenbelt Festival about girls gyrating in scantily clad costume in a worship context, that is what I was seeing in this context.' Asked if he thought the women were willing participants, he told jurors: 'This is the thing that concerns me. I couldn't tell. 'In a progressive culture… it seemed to me to be a graphic, vivid contradiction to have young women behaving in what looked like a controlled manner.' Dr Stibbe said he wrote to the then Bishop of Sheffield to ask about oversight of NOS. 'It seemed to me that it had drifted so far away from being a Christian ritual and Christian service and there were elements of it that deeply disturbed me and I felt it was not properly accountable,' he said. 'I do remember saying to him that I felt that if he did not step in and discern what was truly going on in the congregation that there would be disaster within one year.' Of the response, he said: 'Part of it was a reprimand or rebuke and the rebuke was that we did not conduct witch hunts in the diocese. So I really had my ecclesiastical wrists slapped.' He added that he was told then archdeacon Stephen Lowe was overseeing NOS and that 'that should be enough for me'. Earlier the court heard from Rev Warren who said allegations that emerged about Brain's abuse 'came as a total shock', although he admitted he had a sense of 'cult-like elements' emerging in NOS. Asked while giving evidence over a video link to explain what kinds of behaviour he saw, he said: 'Just a sort of controlling of people and a focus on Chris Brain almost as a sort of guru.' He added: 'I think it was a sense of deference to Chris Brain that if you asked people about the service they would always say, well what Chris thinks is or what Chris wants is. 'With the other services I wouldn't get that sort of response.' The reverend said if NOS had continued to hold services at St Thomas's he expects that behaviour would have become clearer and he would have done something about it. He told the court that NOS had 400 regular worshippers when it left St Thomas's and at one stage there was a mass confirmation service of 93 members of NOS – 'the largest group that we had ever confirmed in one church'. He agreed that NOS was exciting and innovative for the Church of England and that it could engage young people in ways the church was until then failing to do, incorporating 'rave' culture and music as part of worship. 'Some people who were at that service would come from 20 or 30 miles away because they found the service so inspiring,' he said. The witness also told jurors that NOS functioned independently financially from St Thomas's, and that NOS contributed to payments to Brain as a 'lay leader' and then as a priest once he was ordained. Brain's personal tutor during his ordination training also gave evidence, telling jurors how she initially thought he was arrogant, how he was often absent and failed to consistently meet deadlines. Marilyn Parry said she raised issues with senior tutors and the diocese but that they did not appear to share her view, adding: 'They felt he should be given some slack because he was running such an important ministry for the church.' 'Mr Brain was not having a normal curacy so he was being fast tracked through the process,' she said. 'I felt it was a mistake.' The court heard it would normally take three to four years for someone to be ordained from the time they begin training at college but that Brain was ordained in one. The witness also said she had difficulty getting in touch with him and would often find 'young women' answering his phone, telling of a particular conversation that 'worried' her when a young woman said Brain could not take her call because he was being massaged by another member of the team. Former members of NOS also gave evidence, telling the court how Brain led a 'luxurious' lifestyle with a 'lavish' car, mobile phone and 'the best' clothes. They also said there was an 'expectation' that followers should try to contribute 10% of their income to NOS. The trial continues on Thursday.
Glasgow Times
12 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Former priest led movement with ‘extremely disturbing' services, court hears
Christopher Brain, 68, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, was leader of the the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), part of the Church of England, in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995. Brain denies one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault between 1981 and 1995. The prosecution allege NOS became a cult where Brain abused his position to sexually assault a 'staggering number' of women followers, exerting control over their lives and ostracising them from friends and family. Brain is charged with one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault (Elizabeth Cook/PA) Inner London Crown Court has heard a 'homebase team' was set up to 'care for' Brain – referred to as 'the Lycra Lovelies' or 'the Lycra Nuns' – with witnesses reporting seeing the defendant surrounded by attractive women in lingerie at his home looking after his needs. Mark Stibbe was a curate of St Thomas's Church in Sheffield when NOS was holding services there. Giving evidence on Wednesday, he said there was 'concern' about the direction NOS was taking and discussion about Brain and what was going on at his home. He told the court: 'I remember one church administrator or finance officer at St Thomas's who was like an old school army man and he brought up the negative optics, potentially anyway, of scantily clad, lycra-wearing pretty young women as he put it coming to and from Chris Brain's house on a regular basis to perform 'domestic duties'.' The witness said the man got a 'roasting' for asking whether there was 'anything untoward' about it and that others at St Thomas's felt that if the church's vicar, Robert Warren, was not going to intervene then junior clergy had no business doing so. He said it did not appear to him that Reverend Warren was able to control Brain. He also recalled there was 'a lot of controversy' over the Greenbelt Christian arts festival 'into which NOS had poured many hours and many thousands of pounds'. Dr Stibbe moved to another church in 1993 but attended a NOS service once it had moved to a new location in Ponds Forge after a member of his congregation expressed concerns to him about it. Of his visit, he said: 'My view at the time was that it was extremely disturbing and that my friend who had said it was disturbing was correct. 'The reason I found it disturbing is that the things that had been reported from the Greenbelt Festival about girls gyrating in scantily clad costume in a worship context, that is what I was seeing in this context.' Asked if he thought the women were willing participants, he told jurors: 'This is the thing that concerns me. I couldn't tell. 'In a progressive culture… it seemed to me to be a graphic, vivid contradiction to have young women behaving in what looked like a controlled manner.' Dr Stibbe said he wrote to the then Bishop of Sheffield to ask about oversight of NOS. 'It seemed to me that it had drifted so far away from being a Christian ritual and Christian service and there were elements of it that deeply disturbed me and I felt it was not properly accountable,' he said. 'I do remember saying to him that I felt that if he did not step in and discern what was truly going on in the congregation that there would be disaster within one year.' Of the response, he said: 'Part of it was a reprimand or rebuke and the rebuke was that we did not conduct witch hunts in the diocese. So I really had my ecclesiastical wrists slapped.' He added that he was told then archdeacon Stephen Lowe was overseeing NOS and that 'that should be enough for me'. Earlier the court heard from Rev Warren who said allegations that emerged about Brain's abuse 'came as a total shock', although he admitted he had a sense of 'cult-like elements' emerging in NOS. Asked while giving evidence over a video link to explain what kinds of behaviour he saw, he said: 'Just a sort of controlling of people and a focus on Chris Brain almost as a sort of guru.' He added: 'I think it was a sense of deference to Chris Brain that if you asked people about the service they would always say, well what Chris thinks is or what Chris wants is. 'With the other services I wouldn't get that sort of response.' The reverend said if NOS had continued to hold services at St Thomas's he expects that behaviour would have become clearer and he would have done something about it. He told the court that NOS had 400 regular worshippers when it left St Thomas's and at one stage there was a mass confirmation service of 93 members of NOS – 'the largest group that we had ever confirmed in one church'. He agreed that NOS was exciting and innovative for the Church of England and that it could engage young people in ways the church was until then failing to do, incorporating 'rave' culture and music as part of worship. 'Some people who were at that service would come from 20 or 30 miles away because they found the service so inspiring,' he said. The witness also told jurors that NOS functioned independently financially from St Thomas's, and that NOS contributed to payments to Brain as a 'lay leader' and then as a priest once he was ordained. Brain's personal tutor during his ordination training also gave evidence, telling jurors how she initially thought he was arrogant, how he was often absent and failed to consistently meet deadlines. Marilyn Parry said she raised issues with senior tutors and the diocese but that they did not appear to share her view, adding: 'They felt he should be given some slack because he was running such an important ministry for the church.' 'Mr Brain was not having a normal curacy so he was being fast tracked through the process,' she said. 'I felt it was a mistake.' The court heard it would normally take three to four years for someone to be ordained from the time they begin training at college but that Brain was ordained in one. The witness also said she had difficulty getting in touch with him and would often find 'young women' answering his phone, telling of a particular conversation that 'worried' her when a young woman said Brain could not take her call because he was being massaged by another member of the team. Former members of NOS also gave evidence, telling the court how Brain led a 'luxurious' lifestyle with a 'lavish' car, mobile phone and 'the best' clothes. They also said there was an 'expectation' that followers should try to contribute 10% of their income to NOS. The trial continues on Thursday.
South Wales Guardian
13 hours ago
- South Wales Guardian
Former priest led movement with ‘extremely disturbing' services, court hears
Christopher Brain, 68, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, was leader of the the Nine O'Clock Service (NOS), part of the Church of England, in Sheffield between 1986 and 1995. Brain denies one count of rape and 36 counts of indecent assault between 1981 and 1995. The prosecution allege NOS became a cult where Brain abused his position to sexually assault a 'staggering number' of women followers, exerting control over their lives and ostracising them from friends and family. Inner London Crown Court has heard a 'homebase team' was set up to 'care for' Brain – referred to as 'the Lycra Lovelies' or 'the Lycra Nuns' – with witnesses reporting seeing the defendant surrounded by attractive women in lingerie at his home looking after his needs. Mark Stibbe was a curate of St Thomas's Church in Sheffield when NOS was holding services there. Giving evidence on Wednesday, he said there was 'concern' about the direction NOS was taking and discussion about Brain and what was going on at his home. He told the court: 'I remember one church administrator or finance officer at St Thomas's who was like an old school army man and he brought up the negative optics, potentially anyway, of scantily clad, lycra-wearing pretty young women as he put it coming to and from Chris Brain's house on a regular basis to perform 'domestic duties'.' The witness said the man got a 'roasting' for asking whether there was 'anything untoward' about it and that others at St Thomas's felt that if the church's vicar, Robert Warren, was not going to intervene then junior clergy had no business doing so. He said it did not appear to him that Reverend Warren was able to control Brain. He also recalled there was 'a lot of controversy' over the Greenbelt Christian arts festival 'into which NOS had poured many hours and many thousands of pounds'. Dr Stibbe moved to another church in 1993 but attended a NOS service once it had moved to a new location in Ponds Forge after a member of his congregation expressed concerns to him about it. Of his visit, he said: 'My view at the time was that it was extremely disturbing and that my friend who had said it was disturbing was correct. 'The reason I found it disturbing is that the things that had been reported from the Greenbelt Festival about girls gyrating in scantily clad costume in a worship context, that is what I was seeing in this context.' Asked if he thought the women were willing participants, he told jurors: 'This is the thing that concerns me. I couldn't tell. 'In a progressive culture… it seemed to me to be a graphic, vivid contradiction to have young women behaving in what looked like a controlled manner.' Dr Stibbe said he wrote to the then Bishop of Sheffield to ask about oversight of NOS. 'It seemed to me that it had drifted so far away from being a Christian ritual and Christian service and there were elements of it that deeply disturbed me and I felt it was not properly accountable,' he said. 'I do remember saying to him that I felt that if he did not step in and discern what was truly going on in the congregation that there would be disaster within one year.' Of the response, he said: 'Part of it was a reprimand or rebuke and the rebuke was that we did not conduct witch hunts in the diocese. So I really had my ecclesiastical wrists slapped.' He added that he was told then archdeacon Stephen Lowe was overseeing NOS and that 'that should be enough for me'. Earlier the court heard from Rev Warren who said allegations that emerged about Brain's abuse 'came as a total shock', although he admitted he had a sense of 'cult-like elements' emerging in NOS. Asked while giving evidence over a video link to explain what kinds of behaviour he saw, he said: 'Just a sort of controlling of people and a focus on Chris Brain almost as a sort of guru.' He added: 'I think it was a sense of deference to Chris Brain that if you asked people about the service they would always say, well what Chris thinks is or what Chris wants is. 'With the other services I wouldn't get that sort of response.' The reverend said if NOS had continued to hold services at St Thomas's he expects that behaviour would have become clearer and he would have done something about it. He told the court that NOS had 400 regular worshippers when it left St Thomas's and at one stage there was a mass confirmation service of 93 members of NOS – 'the largest group that we had ever confirmed in one church'. He agreed that NOS was exciting and innovative for the Church of England and that it could engage young people in ways the church was until then failing to do, incorporating 'rave' culture and music as part of worship. 'Some people who were at that service would come from 20 or 30 miles away because they found the service so inspiring,' he said. The witness also told jurors that NOS functioned independently financially from St Thomas's, and that NOS contributed to payments to Brain as a 'lay leader' and then as a priest once he was ordained. Brain's personal tutor during his ordination training also gave evidence, telling jurors how she initially thought he was arrogant, how he was often absent and failed to consistently meet deadlines. Marilyn Parry said she raised issues with senior tutors and the diocese but that they did not appear to share her view, adding: 'They felt he should be given some slack because he was running such an important ministry for the church.' 'Mr Brain was not having a normal curacy so he was being fast tracked through the process,' she said. 'I felt it was a mistake.' The court heard it would normally take three to four years for someone to be ordained from the time they begin training at college but that Brain was ordained in one. The witness also said she had difficulty getting in touch with him and would often find 'young women' answering his phone, telling of a particular conversation that 'worried' her when a young woman said Brain could not take her call because he was being massaged by another member of the team. Former members of NOS also gave evidence, telling the court how Brain led a 'luxurious' lifestyle with a 'lavish' car, mobile phone and 'the best' clothes. They also said there was an 'expectation' that followers should try to contribute 10% of their income to NOS. The trial continues on Thursday.
