Sixteen-year-old convicted of murder of Gent Maksutaj in Uppsala – received 2,000 kronor
A 16-year-old has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison for the murder of Gent Maksutaj in Uppsala. He was paid 2,000 kronor for the contract killing – but shot the wrong person.
Sixteen-year-old convicted of murder in Uppsala – shot wrong man for 2,000 kronor
A 16-year-old boy has been sentenced to four years and six months in prison for the murder of 19-year-old Gent Maksutaj in Uppsala, according to tv4.se. The investigation shows that he received 2,000 kronor for the contract killing – but the victim was actually the wrong person.
Uppsala District Court states in a press release that "the murder has been characterised by recklessness and no punishment other than life imprisonment would have been appropriate if he were an adult."
Sunday evening at Kvarngärdet
On Sunday, 5 July, Gent Maksutaj was shot dead outdoors at Kvarngärdet in Uppsala. He was struck by two shots and died at the scene. Several witnesses were in the vicinity.
– I saw a body in front of a car. People tried to talk to him, but got no response. It was very sad, witness Sina Taklimi recounts.
Witnesses saw a suspect leave the scene by bicycle. Just a couple of hours later, a 16-year-old boy was arrested at a fast-food restaurant in central Stockholm, suspected of the murder.
Ordered via encrypted app
According to the district court's assessment, this was a contract killing with links to organised crime. The job was arranged via an encrypted app by unknown contractors.
Senior prosecutor Mia Sjöstedt states in a press release that the gunman had been in Uppsala for several days searching for his intended target, and that "his primary objective was a different person than the 19-year-old who was later shot dead."
The police investigation shows that the 16-year-old was supposed to act as a drug customer and then shoot the dealer. A picture of the target had been sent to him via the messaging service Signal. When he believed he had identified the correct person, he filmed the man and sent the video to the group in the chat – they confirmed it was the right person. It was not. The man in the film was Gent Maksutaj.
Threatened to proceed
The boy initially tried to avoid carrying out the shooting by pretending he had forgotten money. The group responded by threatening him further, and he then followed Gent and shot him from approximately five metres away.
According to the investigation, the people on the phone ordered him to return and film the victim. When he came back, the victim was still moving, and he was forced to shoot a second time from approximately one metre away.
When he sent over the video he was asked if the man was dead. "Yeah," replied the 16-year-old, whereupon the others responded with laughter – including the shooter himself.
Cycled towards the station – arrested at Burger King
After the murder, the 16-year-old cycled towards Uppsala central station and left the bicycle there. He had been promised that someone would pick him up, but nobody showed up. Instead, he took a train to Stockholm, where among other things he was supposed to dispose of the weapon and collect his payment of 2,000 kronor.
At 02.44, a couple of hours after the shooting, he was arrested at a Burger King restaurant in central Stockholm.
Sentencing and deportation
In addition to the prison sentence for murder, the 16-year-old is also convicted of preparation for murder, aggravated weapons offence, and breaches of the law on flammable and explosive materials. He is to be deported from Sweden and pay 390,000 kronor in damages to Gent Maksutaj's relatives.
Two further people were charged in connection with the murder. A 33-year-old is sentenced to five years in prison for aggravated weapons offence, for possession and transport of the weapon used in the crime. A 17-year-old is, however, acquitted of the charge of aggravated harbouring of an offender.
Source: Google News SE — Crime (sv)