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Stockholm police shoot dead 'severely disabled' man carrying toy gun

The Local Sweden
The Local Sweden - [email protected]
Stockholm police shoot dead 'severely disabled' man carrying toy gun
File photo of police sirens. Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT

UPDATED: A man who died after being shot by police in Stockholm on Thursday morning had Down Syndrome and autism and was carrying a toy gun, according to Swedish media reports.

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Police opened fire while carrying out a check on a man in the central Vasastan district of the Swedish capital, following what they described as a "threatening situation". The incident occurred at around 4am, and the victim was taken to hospital but later confirmed to have died.

On Thursday afternoon, tabloid Expressen reported that the victim was a 20-year-old with Down Syndrome and autism, who had left home with a toy gun. 

His mother told the newspaper that her son was severely disabled, and described him as "the world's kindest man".

She added that he "couldn't even speak" other than being able to say the word 'mum'.

Earlier reports had said that police were called after residents reported the man holding a weapon, and that officers asked him to relinquish it before they opened fire.

An internal review of the action taken by police will be carried out, though no officers are currently suspected of a specific crime.

In their first statement on the incident, police had said: "While searching a person on Norra Stationsgatan in Stockholm, police ended up in a threatening situation and opened fire."

In an update at 10.35am, they said that the weapon carried by the man was believed to be a replica, and that the victim had been reported missing by family around an hour after the incident.

The man who died on Thursday was the seventh person to die in Sweden this year after being shot by police, newswire TT reports.

READ ALSO: 12,000 weapons handed in during amnesty, Swedish police say

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