Airi Iliste immediately realizes she has been shot. It is a burning, stinging sensation - but it does not hurt.
It felt a bit like a muscle tear, she says.
It's a sunny Saturday, June 10, 2023. Airi Iliste is on her way home from a dance class in the center of Farsta when a 20-year-old man opens fire with an automatic weapon at the subway entrance. Six people are hit by the shots, and two die.
Airi Iliste manages to run around the corner to a building where she takes shelter.
So I didn't hear a lot of screaming or terrible things, but it was quiet, it was just me, and the blood was flowing.
23 bystanders killed
Since 2023, when police began keeping statistics, 23 bystanders have been killed and 30 injured in gang-related shootings.
The figures include both bystanders who were hit by stray bullets, people who were shot because the perpetrator mistakenly identified them, and relatives of gang criminals who became targets due to family connections.
"It's incredibly tragic," says Alexander Wallenius, operational coordinator at the police's national operations center.
The fact that so many bystanders are affected may have to do with gang violence creeping down to younger ages, he says.
"We have very young perpetrators who often lack previous experience of violent crimes, which means a greater risk of a third party or the wrong target being affected."
To address the problem, the police are working to reduce the generally high levels of conflict, Wallenius says.
"If overall levels of violence are lower, the risk to third parties is also lower."
"There are no limits"
Two men were sentenced to life in prison for the shooting in Farsta in 2023. Airi Iliste now lives with a mild nerve injury in her leg but is doing well. Not even in the minutes after the shooting, when she sat waiting for an ambulance, did she feel afraid.
"I understood that it wasn't that serious and that others had been more affected. Instead, I became desperate and angry," she says.
"That they shoot so ruthlessly in the middle of people. There are no limits."
A few weeks ago, Airi Iliste received the compensation she was awarded. She thought it was like Russian roulette.
"You can die. You can get away with it. Or you can live but get injured, and then you get a kind of absurd gang-crime roulette win: damages."
Facts: Bystanders affected by gunfire
2026 (through April 27)
Third party: 2 deceased, 1 injured
Relatives: 0 deceased, 2 injured
2025
Third party: 2 deceased, 6 injured
Wrong target: 1 dead, 2 injured
2024
Wrong target: 3 dead, 1 injured
Relatives: 2 deceased, 3 injured
2023
Third party: 4 dead, 9 injured
Wrong target: 3 dead, 1 injured
Relatives: 6 deceased, 5 injured
Third party: A bystander affected by mistakes, for example by stray bullets.
Wrong target: People who were affected when the perpetrator mistakenly identified them.
Relatives: People who have been targeted specifically because of their family connection to a criminal.
The statistics are a snapshot based on the police's current data and may change if new information becomes available.
Source: Police
