21-year-old charged with murder of Ghaith in Tyresö – ordered to shoot in the head
A 21-year-old man is charged with the murder of 18-year-old Ghaith, shot on a bus in Tyresö in March. The shooter admitted to the crime but subsequently refused to answer police questions.
Fingerprint on bus door revealed the shooter
"Head," "Brother," "Shoot him in the head." The orders came via Signal, from the alias "Jihadi John", precisely when the bus stopped at the bus stop in Tyresö on 25 March. The shooter hit the head – but on the wrong person. Now a 21-year-old man is charged with the murder of 18-year-old Ghaith. This is reported by Expressen.
Ghaith was on his way home from school when he boarded the bus. He was shot and taken to hospital in serious condition. The following day, the doctors announced that hope was gone. His older sister has previously told Expressen about the final minutes:
– She was able to sit with him for five minutes, then his heart stopped beating. It was as if he wanted everyone to be there and see him one last time.
Ghaith had no criminal record. Police assess that he was not the intended target.
The fingerprint led police to Eskilstuna
Images from the bus's surveillance camera showed a masked man boarding, raising his weapon and shooting. Before fleeing, he placed his hand against the bus door – a detail noticed by the police who reviewed the footage. A fingerprint was found on the glass.
The next morning came the answer from the National Forensic Centre: the fingerprint belonged to a 21-year-old man, previously convicted of, amongst other things, serious weapons crimes and connected to the network crime environment in Eskilstuna.
The 21-year-old was arrested in absentia. Police tapped his telephone. Two days later, he inadvertently revealed his hiding place – when he called a lift repair technician.
– I'm at [an address in Eskilstuna], urgent, I can't breathe. I'm stuck in the lift, he said.
Admission after six weeks in custody
Initially, the 21-year-old denied the crime. After six weeks in custody, he requested another interrogation and admitted to it.
– I'm going to get straight to the point. I admit to this crime. And I want to say that I am admitting only. No one knew that a murder was going to take place on that particular day, he said.
After that, he ceased answering police questions. In the interrogation, he was confronted with the direct question: if he was the only one who knew that a murder was going to take place, why did he then receive instructions to shoot the victim in the head?
– I'm exercising my right to remain silent, he answered.
The 21-year-old is now charged with murder and serious weapons crimes. He is a Somalian citizen and the prosecutor is seeking lifetime deportation.
The intended target took an Uber
The shooter's task is believed to have been to shoot another pupil at the school – a younger brother of a man with a gang crime background. This person usually took the same bus, but left school earlier that day and took an Uber with friends. He has told police that throughout his upbringing he has felt anxiety as a result of his brother's lifestyle.
Four other men are charged with accessory to murder. All of them appear in the police's mapping of the criminal environment in Eskilstuna.
Suspected instigator remanded in absentia
The murder in Tyresö is connected by prosecutors to several other shootings in the Stockholm area and in Malmö during March. The same person is suspected of being behind the orders. Senior prosecutor Sara Malmhester comments:
– That person is remanded in absentia, suspected of instigating the murder, but has not been apprehended and is not included in the charges.
According to the investigation, the same taxi driver was used for the shootings in both Tyresö and Malmö. In Malmö, a 15-year-old girl is suspected of murdering a boy of the same age. In interrogation, the driver has described how he, after instructions via WhatsApp, collected 31 five-hundred-krona notes in Rissne, picked up the girl in Älvsjö and drove her to Malmö on the night of 23–24 March.
On 24 March, the driver drove a man to Tyresö. On 25 March, he drove the same man there again. Only afterwards did he learn that a murder had been committed at the location, he has stated. The suspicions of accessory to murder against the driver have since been dropped.
The suspected instigator – known under the alias "Jihadi John" – is still at large.
Source: Expressen