The man was shot and killed in his apartment in the west Stockholm neighbourhood on May 13th. Police were called to the address after local residents reportedly said they felt threatened by the man, who was holding what some said appeared to be a machete.
IN PICTURES: Rioters torch Husby
The man’s wife was also in the apartment when the police stormed it an effort to get him out. According to the police, they first tried to subdue the man with a flash grenade, which proved unsuccessful. One officer then opened fire, fatally wounding him.
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The Finnish Swedish-language newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet (HBL) reported that the victim, a Portuguese man married to a Finnish woman, may have been wielding a puukko knife, a traditional hunting knife, and not a machete.
The Swedish police officer, who is in his thirties, joined the police in 2008. He has from the start denied committing manslaughter, stating that he had used his weapon in self-defence.
Suspicions of police brutality were cited as an incendiary factor in the riots that ensued, which spread out into vandalism across outer-lying areas of Stockholm.
IN PICTURES: Word on the street – Husby
TT/The Local/at
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