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Stockholm and Uppsala shootings, 1991–1992

SOLVED1991Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

Between 3 August 1991 and 30 January 1992, a gunman shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of them immigrants; one victim died of his wounds and the rest survived, several with serious injuries. Swedish media called the attacker Lasermannen, or "the Laser Man," after the laser-sighted rifle he initially used. He was later identified as John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius, born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg on 12 July 1953 in Lidingö, the son of a Swiss father and a German mother. Bullied as a child over his non-Swedish appearance, he later bleached his hair and legally changed his name to John Stannerman, then John Ausonius. He worked as a taxi driver, then a stock and bond trader; poor investments and a gambling habit left him short of money, and he carried out more than eighteen robberies to maintain his lifestyle.

Ausonius had served in the Swedish army in 1981–82 and modified his own weapons, sawing down a rifle's barrel and stock and fitting a Smith & Wesson revolver with a silencer, amateurish work that caused him to miss several targets. His victims included David Gebremariam, a 21-year-old Eritrean immigrant shot in the back on 3 August 1991; Shahram Khosravi, a 25-year-old Iranian-born student shot in the face outside Stockholm University on 21 October 1991; Dimitrios Karamalegos, a homeless man of Greek origin shot twice in the stomach on 27 October 1991; and Heberson Vieira Da Costa, a Brazilian musician shot in the head and stomach in a Stockholm restaurant kitchen on 1 November 1991, who described his attacker to police. On 8 November 1991, Ausonius shot Jimmy Ranjbar, an Iranian-born student, who died of his wounds the next day — the spree's only fatality. After a trip to the United States, he resumed shooting in January 1992: wounding Erik Bongcam-Rudloff in Uppsala on 22 January; shooting Charles Dhlakama, a Zimbabwean bus driver, and two unnamed men at a Somali club on 23 January; shooting Isa Aybar, an Assyrian immigrant, four times in the head and arm on 28 January; and shooting Hasan Zatara, a Palestinian store owner, in the head on 30 January, leaving him paralyzed.

Police mounted a manhunt described as second only to the search for Olof Palme's killer, and Ausonius was arrested on 12 June 1992 during a bank robbery. At trial he assaulted his own lawyer and spent the rest of the proceedings in handcuffs; he was convicted of murder and robbery, though not formally linked to all of the shootings, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 1994. He confessed to the remaining attacks in 2000. He was held at Kumla Prison, transferred to Österåker Prison in June 2012. The National Board of Forensic Medicine found a repeated risk he would reoffend due to autism and a personality disorder, and courts rejected his bids to commute the sentence to a fixed term in 2008, 2010, and again on 2 November 2012.

In 2016 Ausonius was extradited to Germany to stand trial for the 23 February 1992 murder in Frankfurt of Blanka Zmigrod, a 68-year-old Holocaust survivor; prosecutors said he killed her and took her handbag, believing she had taken a device that held his bank account numbers. A German court convicted him and sentenced him to life imprisonment on 21 February 2018; after the Federal Court of Justice upheld the verdict, he was extradited back to Sweden in January 2019 to serve his sentences. A 2002 book about the case by journalist Gellert Tamas became a bestseller and was adapted into a play and a Swedish television miniseries.

Key facts

Victims
Hasan Zatara, Charles Dhlakama, Isa Aybar, Heberson Vieira Da Costa, Jimmy Ranjbar, Dimitrios Karamalegos, Erik Bongcam-Rudloff, David Gebremariam, Shahram Khosravi
Date
1991
Location
Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 1991-08-03

    Ausonius shoots David Gebremariam, a 21-year-old immigrant from Eritrea, in the back in Stockholm; Gebremariam survives.

  2. 1991-10-21

    Ausonius shoots Shahram Khosravi, a 25-year-old Iranian-born student, in the face outside Stockholm University; Khosravi survives.

  3. 1991-10-27

    Ausonius shoots Dimitrios Karamalegos, a homeless man of Greek origin, twice in the stomach; Karamalegos survives.

  4. 1991-11-01

    Ausonius enters a restaurant kitchen in Stockholm and shoots Heberson Vieira Da Costa, a Brazilian musician, in the head and stomach; Da Costa survives and gives police a detailed description of his attacker.

  5. 1991-11-08

    Ausonius shoots Jimmy Ranjbar, an Iranian-born student; Ranjbar dies of his wounds the next day, the only fatality of the spree.

  6. 1992-01-22

    In Uppsala, Ausonius shoots Erik Bongcam-Rudloff, a PhD student, in the head near the Linnaeus Garden; Bongcam-Rudloff survives.

  7. 1992-01-23

    Ausonius shoots Charles Dhlakama, a bus driver from Zimbabwe, in the chest in Stockholm, then shoots two unnamed men at a Somali club that evening; all three survive.

  8. 1992-01-28

    Ausonius shoots Isa Aybar, an immigrant of Assyrian origin, four times in the head and arm; Aybar survives and telephones police.

  9. 1992-01-30

    In Hägerstensåsen, Ausonius shoots Hasan Zatara, a Palestinian store owner, in the head, leaving him paralyzed but alive.

  10. 1992-06-12

    Ausonius is arrested during a bank robbery, ending a manhunt described as Sweden's second-largest after the search for Olof Palme's killer.

  11. 1994-01

    Ausonius is sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden after being convicted of murder and robbery.

  12. 2000

    Ausonius confesses to all of the 1991–1992 shootings, including ones he had not been formally linked to at trial.

  13. 2012-11-02

    The Örebro District Court rejects Ausonius's third application to have his life sentence commuted to a fixed term.

  14. 2018-02-21

    A German court convicts Ausonius of the 1992 murder of Blanka Zmigrod in Frankfurt and sentences him to life imprisonment there.

  15. 2019-01

    Ausonius is extradited from Germany back to Sweden to serve his sentences.

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People

  • Hasan Zatara

    VICTIM

    Palestinian store owner; shot in the head in Hägerstensåsen on 30 January 1992, left paralyzed but survived.

  • Charles Dhlakama

    VICTIM

    Bus driver originally from Zimbabwe; shot in the chest in Stockholm on 23 January 1992 and survived.

  • Isa Aybar

    VICTIM

    Immigrant of Assyrian origin; shot four times in the head and arm on 28 January 1992, survived, and was able to call police.

  • John Ausonius

    CONVICTED

    Born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg; known in the media as Lasermannen. Convicted of the murder of Jimmy Ranjbar and 10 bank robberies for the 1991–1992 Stockholm/Uppsala shooting spree and sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden in January 1994; confessed to the remaining shootings in 2000. Separately convicted in Germany in 2018 of the 1992 murder of Blanka Zmigrod and sentenced to a second life term there.

  • Heberson Vieira Da Costa

    VICTIM

    Musician from Brazil; shot in the head and stomach in a Stockholm restaurant kitchen on 1 November 1991, survived, and gave police a detailed description of Ausonius.

  • Jimmy Ranjbar

    VICTIM

    Iranian-born student; shot by Ausonius on 8 November 1991 and died of his wounds the following day, the only fatality of the shooting spree.

  • Dimitrios Karamalegos

    VICTIM

    Homeless man of Greek origin; shot twice in the stomach on 27 October 1991 and survived.

  • Erik Bongcam-Rudloff

    VICTIM

    PhD student in medical sciences; shot in the head in Uppsala on 22 January 1992, survived, and later became a scientist representing Sweden in international research networks.

  • David Gebremariam

    VICTIM

    21-year-old immigrant from Eritrea; shot in the back by Ausonius on 3 August 1991 and survived.

  • Shahram Khosravi

    VICTIM

    25-year-old Iranian-born student; shot in the face outside Stockholm University on 21 October 1991 and survived.

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

Places

Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden

59.3293, 18.0686

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Common questions

What happened to the victim?
Between August 1991 and January 1992, a gunman Swedish media called 'Lasermannen' (the Laser Man) shot eleven people, most of them immigrants, in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, killing one and seriously wounding several others; he was identified as John Ausonius, arrested in June 1992, and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 1994.
Where did the shootings happen?
Stockholm and Uppsala, Sweden.
Who was convicted?
John Ausonius (Born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg; known in the media as Lasermannen. Convicted of the murder of Jimmy Ranjbar and 10 bank robberies for the 1991–1992 Stockholm/Uppsala shooting spree and sentenced to life imprisonment in Sweden in January 1994; confessed to the remaining shootings in 2000. Separately convicted in Germany in 2018 of the 1992 murder of Blanka Zmigrod and sentenced to a second life term there.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in Sweden

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICJohn AusoniusWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — BBC NewsBBC News · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — Associated PressAssociated Press · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026