Swedish Teen Rapper Einar Killed in Shooting

Einar, a 19-year-old Swedish rapper, was shot and died in Stockholm, according to Swedish media.

"It is a young life that has been lost, and I understand that he meant a lot to many young people. It's tragic that another life has been lost," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told Swedish news agency TT.

While the motive for the shooting is unknown, Einar had recently received repeated threats, according to the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet.

The rapper's shooting was gang-related, according to Swedish public television SVT.

Sweden has seen an increase in shootings, gang-related violence, and organized crime in recent years.

The 19-year-old rapper was shot numerous times outside an apartment building in a residential neighborhood late Thursday.

According to police officials, the shooting occurred soon before 11 p.m. local time (2100 UTC) in Hammarby Sjostad in the south of Stockholm, according to the newspaper Expressen, the broadcaster SVT, and several other Swedish media outlets.

He died at the site after emergency personnel offered first aid, according to authorities.

"We are actively working to figure why it happened and who can be behind it," Stockholm police spokeswoman Towe Hagg told the AFP news agency.

At least two suspects are being sought by police in connection with the shooting, according to reports.

As is customary, police have not yet given official confirmation of the victim's identification. However, he was named as Einar by all major Swedish media outlets. His full name is Nils Kurt Erik Einar Gronberg.

Einar was kidnapped and beaten up by rival rappers with ties to a criminal group in Stockholm last year.

In July, a Swedish court sentenced Yasin, another award-winning rapper, to ten months in prison for conspiring to kidnap Einar.

Yasin was arrested as part of a larger criminal network case in which 27 people were found guilty of crimes ranging from murder to robbery.

SVT reported at the time that the kidnapping plot was orchestrated by the criminal network's boss, and Yasin was the bait.

Einar had written songs about crime, narcotics, and guns, and had won multiple music honours, including Swedish Grammys.

Einar began sharing his songs on social media when he was a youngster. In 2019, he had his breakthrough with the song "Katten I trakten," which went to number one on the Swedish singles chart.