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MALMÖ SHOOTER TRIAL

SNIPER

Mangs deserves life for ‘ruthless’ sniper attacks

A Swedish man on trial for a shooting spree targeting immigrants that left three people dead and wounded many more should probably be given Sweden's harshest punishment, a prosecutor said Monday.

Published: 17 July 2012 07:10 CEST
Mangs deserves life for 'ruthless' sniper attacks

Peter Mangs, 40, should be punished “at the level of a life sentence,” prosecutor Solveig Wollstad said in closing arguments on the penultimate day of the trial at the Malmö District Court in southern Sweden.

She said however she would refrain from making a final recommendation until after the court rules Tuesday on whether Mangs should undergo a psychiatric evaluation to determine if he should go to prison or be sent to a mental institution.

Mangs was arrested in November 2010 after a massive manhunt following a string of shootings against people of immigrant origin that gripped Sweden’s third largest city with fear.

He has been charged with killing two men of immigrant origin, aged 23 and 66, in 2003 and a 20-year-old Swedish woman who had been sitting in a car with an immigrant man in 2009.

He has also been charged with 12 attempted murders in which he fired numerous shots with his Glock 19 pistol at homes, businesses and cars as well as out in the open, seriously injuring a number of people and coming close to killing many others.

Mangs “has ruthlessly ruined many people’s lives. He is completely indifferent (to their suffering). It is clear that this has been a lifestyle for Peter Mangs,” Wollstad told the court, according to the Aftonbladet daily.

Mangs has protested his innocence, with his defence arguing there are no fingerprints or DNA linking him to the crimes, and trying to cast doubt on forensic evidence showing the bullets were fired from his gun.

But according to public radio, Mangs has confessed to acquaintances, prison guards and a psychiatrist that he was behind several of the shootings.

Wollstad insisted the racist nature of the crimes should influence the court to give Mangs a harsh punishment.

“It cannot be a coincidence that all of the victims, except two, were of immigrant origin,” she told the court, according to the TT news agency, saying that Mangs “calls people of immigrant origin monkeys.”

In Sweden, people sentenced to life can request after 10 years behind bars that their sentence be reduced, and few people serve much more than 20 years.

The defence will give its closing arguments Tuesday.

Mangs denies 19 of the 20 charges against him, but has confessed to one count of vandalism for having fired a shot through a shop window.

AFP/The Local

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PETER MANGS

Swedish sniper wanted to ignite ‘gang warfare’

Convicted Swedish sniper Peter Mangs came close to confessing to another two murders on Tuesday, commenting on the string of attacks he had denied in court but now says were meant to create tensions in Sweden's multicultural city.

Published: 13 August 2013 07:58 CEST
Swedish sniper wanted to ignite 'gang warfare'

Mangs, who was jailed last year in Malmö, southern Sweden, told the regional Sydsvenskan newspaper on Tuesday that his goal with the series of shootings that terrorized the city was to incited gang warfare. On Monday, he confirmed that he had killed 20-year-old Trez West Persson.

The interview also contained quotes that came close to a confession to two further murders, after telling the paper’s reporter on Monday that he had shot Persson and seriously injured her companion, in a parked car in Malmö.

Her companion, Mangs’ intended target, survived and gave evidence at the trial in Malmö. His short hair revealed a long scar snaking across his skull, the physical reminder of the attack which he told court had altered his life for ever.

Mangs told the paper that the man did not look “like a criminal”, rather that the circumstances pointed to him being a lawbreaker, and that this was enough for the serial killer to feel the need to strike.

“It was a hunt! When the right opportunity presented itself, one that filled all the right criteria, then the idea was to do it,” he said.

On Tuesday, Mangs continued his saga by telling Sydsvenskan that he had engaged in target practice across the entire city at least a hundred times.

Mangs was sentenced to life in prison in 2012 for two murders and five attempted murders. In April, he was convicted of another three attempted murders by the Malmö appeals court (hovrätten). The Supreme Court denied his lawyers a chance to appeal.

Mangs was also charged with killing two men aged 23 and 66, in 2003, as well as the 20-year-old Swedish woman in 2009.

As many of his victims had immigrant backgrounds, the attacks spread fear in Sweden’s most multicultural city before Mangs was apprehended by the police. Swedish police grappled with his motives, as Mangs had no clear cut ideological profile, but has spoken about his disdain for criminals.

He was also charged with a slew of attempted murders in which he fired numerous shots with his Glock 19 pistol at homes, businesses and cars as well as out in the open, seriously injuring a number of people and coming close to killing many others.

The Swedish prosecutor who headed the case against him, Solveig Wollstad, said on Monday that the confession may help Persson’s family.

TT/The Local/at

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