The boy is believed to have been tasked with detonating an explosive device in Östberga in southern Stockholm by a 22-year-old man high up in a criminal network in Huddinge. The contact was made through a boy the same age as the 15-year-old.
According to information in the investigation, the 15-year-old had been promised between 5,000 and 10,000 kronor. A friend tried to warn him that others or himself could be harmed, but he would not listen.
"He just said, 'By God, I'm going to succeed with this.' He was hyped," the friend says during questioning.
Exactly what happened on the evening of August 22 last year is unclear. A likely scenario is that the 15-year-old panicked when he saw that a man had spotted him as he was about to place the explosive device.
During questioning, the man described how the boy ran from the scene. Just as he rounded a corner, a loud bang was heard.
Improvised explosive device
The boy had lit the explosive device he had been equipped with, probably a so-called thermos bomb, and was holding it when it detonated. He died instantly.
"Those who manufacture and make these explosives available are showing total recklessness. These are home-made and all are potentially deadly," says Malin Nygren, head of the National Bomb Data Center.
The instigators care neither about the risks to the perpetrators nor to others who may happen to pass by when a bomb explodes, according to Nygren.
These devices are simply unpredictable; no experts build them and no experts detonate them.
The death is the second known case of a perpetrator dying in an explosion. In 2021, a 35-year-old man died while trying to detonate a bomb in Värnamo.
Coincidences
The fact that no more people have died in connection with the hundreds of explosions in recent years may have contributed to some people not believing it is particularly dangerous, argues Malin Nygren.
But it is only coincidence and luck that more people have not died or been injured, she says.
The 22-year-old gang member and the 15-year-old who made the contact are charged with, among other things, aggravated manslaughter. The trial is ongoing in Södertörn District Court.
