Sweden reports record number of fatal shootings

A record-high 48 people were shot dead in Sweden this year, Swedish media reported Friday.

The latest shooting incident took place Thursday night in Kristianstad when a man was shot dead, police said.

"Unfortunately, we cannot say more than that he is in his 20s and we have no suspects at the moment," Mikael Lind, an officer on duty at the Stockholm region South, told the daily Smalandsposten.

This means that Sweden has already reached a new record in terms of fatal shootings and the number is expected to be much higher before the end of the year.

Lind stated that there has been an increase in shootings but he could not give an exact figure on "how much it has increased or how it looks in other regions, but in our region (Stockholm) it has definitely increased."

Most of the shootings are believed to have taken place in the Stockholm region which has a major impact on the police's resources.

According to police statistics, the highest number previously was in 2020 when a total of 47 people were killed and the year after that the number of people killed was 45.

The general number of gun shootings is believed to be 273 on Sept. 1 this year, compared with 344 throughout 2021 and 379 throughout 2020, local media reported.

In recent years, gang-related deadly shootings have escalated and spread across the Nordic country with authorities struggling to contain the war-like violence.

According to a report published last year by the National Council for Crime Prevention, Sweden is at the top of European rankings when it comes to fatal shootings.