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2009–2010 Malmö shootings

SOLVED2003Malmö, Sweden3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

Between 2003 and 2010, Peter Mangs, a Swedish man born in 1972 and raised in Malmö's Lindängen area, carried out a series of racially motivated shootings across the city. He was later held responsible for at least three murders and twelve attempted murders. Mangs selected victims from groups he believed should not live in Malmö — people he labeled "race traitors," along with Muslims, Roma, and Swedes of African descent — in an effort to provoke a race war. He had immersed himself in white supremacist literature, including William Luther Pierce's novels The Turner Diaries and Hunter, and became fixated on Joseph Paul Franklin, a racially motivated serial killer to whom Hunter is devoted.

In June and July 2003, at age 31, Mangs shot and killed two men in Malmö: 65-year-old Kooros Effatian and 23-year-old Firas al-Shariah. According to the source material, he chose them because their names indicated non-white heritage. In fall 2009 he began a cluster of shootings carried out with a 9mm Glock 19 handgun. On 9 October 2009, he shot and killed Trez West Persson, an ethnically Swedish woman, while she sat in a car with an Albanian friend. Some media coverage at the time speculated that her friend had been the intended target and that she was killed by accident, but forensic evidence tied the same firearm to several of the other attacks, and Mangs's aim was to emulate Franklin by killing a woman he viewed as a race traitor. The shootings spread fear through Malmö's immigrant community; Tahmoures Yassami, then leader of the Iranian-Swedish Association in Malmö, said many residents, especially families with children, were frightened. Local police urged against panic but advised members of ethnic minorities to avoid secluded areas after dark, when the attacks had been occurring.

Investigators compared the shootings to those of John Ausonius, known as "Laser Man," who killed one person and targeted eleven men of immigrant origin around Stockholm and Uppsala in 1991–92. On 6 November 2010, Swedish police announced the arrest of a suspect: a 38-year-old Malmö man, identified as Peter Mangs, whom Malmö police said was under suspicion of one murder and seven attempted murders. Mangs had expressed strong anti-immigrant views and admiration for Ausonius. His lawyers argued he had Asperger syndrome, which he had suspected since at least 2005 and was formally diagnosed with in May 2009.

In 2012, Mangs was found guilty of two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. On 25 April 2013, the Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal denied his bid to overturn the sentence and convicted him of three additional counts of attempted murder. Sweden's Supreme Court denied a further appeal that June, making the convictions final.

Key facts

Victims
Kooros Effatian, Firas al-Shariah, Trez West Persson
Date
2003
Location
Malmö, Sweden
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 2003

    Peter Mangs shoots and kills Kooros Effatian, 65, and Firas al-Shariah, 23, in separate attacks in Malmö, selecting them because their names indicated non-white heritage.

  2. 2009-05

    Mangs is formally diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, a diagnosis his defense later cited during his trial.

  3. 2009-10-09

    Mangs shoots and kills Trez West Persson while she sits in a car with a friend; the shooting is later linked by forensic evidence to a string of other attacks carried out with the same firearm.

  4. 2010-11-06

    Swedish police announce the arrest of a 38-year-old Malmö man, identified as Peter Mangs, on suspicion of one murder and seven attempted murders.

  5. 2012

    Mangs is convicted of two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

  6. 2013-04-25

    The Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal denies Mangs's bid to overturn his sentence and convicts him of three additional counts of attempted murder.

  7. 2013-06

    Sweden's Supreme Court denies a further appeal, making the convictions final.

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • Kooros Effatian

    VICTIM

    A 65-year-old man shot and killed by Peter Mangs in Malmö in 2003; targeted, according to the source, because his name indicated non-white heritage.

  • Firas al-Shariah

    VICTIM

    A 23-year-old man shot and killed by Peter Mangs in Malmö in 2003; targeted, according to the source, because his name indicated non-white heritage.

  • Peter Mangs

    CONVICTED

    Convicted in 2012 of two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment; the Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal convicted him of three additional counts of attempted murder in April 2013, and Sweden's Supreme Court denied a further appeal in June 2013.

  • Trez West Persson

    VICTIM

    An ethnically Swedish woman shot and killed by Peter Mangs on 9 October 2009 while sitting in a car with a friend; forensic evidence linked the shooting to Mangs's other attacks via the same firearm.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

Malmö, Sweden

55.6050, 13.0038

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Between 2003 and 2010, Peter Mangs carried out a series of racially motivated shootings in Malmö, Sweden, killing three people and attempting to kill twelve others; he was convicted in 2012 and sentenced to life imprisonment, with additional attempted-murder convictions upheld on appeal in 2013.
Where did the shootings happen?
Malmö, Sweden.
Who was convicted?
Peter Mangs (Convicted in 2012 of two counts of murder and four counts of attempted murder and sentenced to life imprisonment; the Scania and Blekinge Court of Appeal convicted him of three additional counts of attempted murder in April 2013, and Sweden's Supreme Court denied a further appeal in June 2013.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in Sweden

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICPeter MangsWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — The GuardianThe Guardian · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — The TelegraphThe Telegraph · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026