One of the officers will be charged for involuntary manslaughter while the other two face charges for breach of official duty, the prosecutor confirmed on Friday morning.
"One officer will be prosecuted for causing another person's death, alternatively breach of official duty, and two will be prosecuted for breach of official duty," prosecutor Martin Tidén told a press conference. Swedish criminal law makes a distinction between causing another person's death (vållande till annans död) and the more serious charge of manslaughter (dråp).
Describing the events that led to 20-year-old Eric Torell's death on August 2nd last year, prosecutor Tidén said the three police officers had been in a residential courtyard early in the morning responding to a call about a suspected dangerous man. Torell then came into the courtyard holding a toy gun, which he pointed at one of the officers.
He had Down Syndrome and autism, and according to his mother had the same mental level as a typical three-year-old.
In their initial police report, police said they had opened fire following a "threatening situation" while carrying out a check after receiving reports that led them to suspect a known violent criminal was in the area.
Torell was taken to hospital after being shot but later confirmed to have died. The prosecutor's statement on Friday said that his life could not have been saved after the shooting.
He was the seventh person to die in Sweden after being shot by police in 2018.
During the preliminary investigation into his death, hundreds of hearings, has been carried out and a 3D reconstruction of the scene of the shooting has been used to help prosecutors understand what happened. Police have said that the darkness in the area made it difficult to see that the weapon Torell Read More – Source
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