Mattias Flink | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Mattias FLINK

Classification: Mass murderer

Characteristics: Army officer - Distraught over the impending break-up with his girlfriend

Number of victims: 7

Date of murders: June 11,

1994

Date of arrest: Same day (wounded by police)

Date of birth: March 8,

1970

Victims profile: Karin Alkstål, 23 / Therese Danielsson, 20 / Helle Jürgensen / Lena Mårdner-Nilsson, 29 / Jenny Österman, 22 / Maths Bragstedt, 35 / Johan Tollsten, 26

Method of murder: Shooting

(automatic rifle AK5)

Location: Falun, Sweden

Status: Sentenced to life imprisonment. Commuted to 32 years in prison on July 6, 2010

photo gallery

Mattias Flink (born March 8, 1970) is a Swedish mass murderer who killed 7 people and wounded two during a one-night rampage through the town of Falun on June 11, 1994.

Matt, an army man, was distraught over the impending break-up with his girlfriend. After a night of serious drinking he returned to his barracks, grabbed his AK-5, extra ammunition clips, and went back to town to mow down citizens.

After killing seven people he climbed on a crane and waited for the police. Two hours later he got bored, climbed down, and was spotted by the police who tracked him to a railway station.

When he saw the cops he tried to fire at them but his AK-5 jammed with a casing caught in the ejector. The two lucky cops shot him on the buttocks before arresting him.

Now Mattias spends his times in Sweden's premier prison wishing he had stayed on the crane.

Mattias Flink (born March 8, 1970, in Falun, Sweden) is a Swedish mass murderer who killed seven people on June 11, 1994, in Falun, Sweden. He was at the time a fänrik in the Swedish Army.

Early years

Flink was born and raised in Falun. His mother was a housewife and his father and grandfather worked as weaponry blacksmiths with their own shop. At the age of seven Flink joined the Scout Movement. His parents divorced when he was nine years old and the divorce is described as having been calm and sensible. Flink chose to stay with his father in the family house while his mother moved to an apartment just a couple of hundred meters from the house. According to psychological evaluations his mother's departure left deep scars within Flink. It is said that Flink developed some kind of alienation towards women.

Flink attended high school with a focus on Electric Mechanical studies. After his graduation Flink enlisted as a conscript with Dalregementet. He committed himself to become an officer of the Swedish Army and was employed at Dalaregementet in 1993.

Mental health

During the spring of 1994 Flink suffered severe problems with his mental health, resulting in aggression, severe jealousy, sleeping disorders and paranoia. This led to a total mental breakdown.

The mass murder

On June 11, 1994, Second Lieutenant Mattias Flink consumed a large amount of alcohol. Then he went home to change his clothes. Dressed in his field uniform he walked to his regiment. He equipped himself with his Automatic rifle the AK5 and 150 bullets, 5.56 caliber. Flink then set out for a park in the centre of Falun where he shot down 6 members of the Women's Auxiliary Services. The women were shot down randomly. Shortly thereafter he shot down two men, one cyclist and one security officer, at a nearby road crossing. Six of the victims died immediately, while one woman died in hospital. One victim survived the attack.

Victims

Karin Alkstål, 23
Therese Danielsson, 20
Helle Jürgensen
Lena Mårdner-Nilsson, 29
Jenny Österman, 22
Maths Bragstedt, 35
Johan Tollsten, 26

The arrest

After the shootings Flink sought refuge in a nearby crane. He remained there for some time before he made his way down to walk home along an abandoned railway. It was at this time that two policemen discovered him. Flink fired two rounds at the policemen who then returned fire. Flink was hit in the hip and collapsed. At 03:25 Flink was apprehended and brought to Falu hospital. His blood alcohol level was 1.69 at the time of the arrest.

The trial

In the district court the defense never questioned the prosecutor's description of the crime. The question for the defense was whether or not Flink was mentally ill at the time of the shooting. According to experts, Flink was in a self-inflicted temporary psychotic condition, triggered by alcohol, on the evening of the crime. If Flink was found to be mentally ill he would not be able to be sentenced to prison. The final verdict came in the Swedish Supreme Court; Mattias Flink was sentenced to life imprisonment. This precedent verdict made it possible for the courts in Sweden to sentence people to prison for crimes stemming from and committed during an alcohol-induced psychosis.

Time in prison

Flink was placed in the Norrköping prison but was subsequently moved to Beateberg prison outside of Stockholm. When the prisoners of Beateberg learned of Flink's move they arranged a meeting to show their disgust towards his actions of killing innocent women.

Flink has been allotted protected identity by Swedish Authorities. He has refused to give any interviews. During his years in prison he has been described as a calm and well-behaved prisoner.

During the spring of 2008 Mattias Flink applied for parole to the District court of Örebro. On June 9, the court ruled that Flink must go through a psychiatric examination to determine whether he is likely to be dangerous to others before a decision on parole can be made. The examination by the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine (Rättsmedicinalverket) will be finished by July 7. The victims' families strongly oppose the fact that Flink might be released.

Mattias Flink has been given several monitored short-term leaves from prison, and in May 2007 he was granted unmonitored leaves since he behaved well during his other leaves. Relatives and families of the victims strongly opposed these leaves and expressed worries about the same thing happening again.

Conversion of Life Sentence to a Set Time sentence

In January, 2008, Flink requested that his life sentence be limited to 24 years imprisonment. However on September 3, 2008, Örebro municipal court rejected the request with the motivation that the circumstances regarding the case are "exceptionally difficult" and that a set time punishment has to greatly exceed 24 years.

Similar cases

In the same year, there was quite similar case in Finland, when an army deserter, Mika Muranen, shot two of his neighbours with a crossbow and one man with a assault rifle.

Wikipedia.org

Army officer kills 7 in Sweden shooting

The Commercial Appeal

June 12, 1994

An army officer killed seven people with an assault rifle in a central Swedish town early Saturday in what police called the worst violent crime in modern Swedish history.

Five of those killed were young women serving in an army auxiliary unit, who had been on a one-week course at the base where the gunman was stationed, police said.

The 24-year-old gunman was captured after a shootout with police and he confessed, police said. He was hospitalized with a gunshot wound in the hip.

Army officer guns down 7 in park

San Jose Mercury News

June 12, 1994

In what police called the worst violent crime in modern Swedish history, a 24-year-old army officer with an assault rifle killed seven people Saturday, including five young women serving in an army auxiliary unit, in a park in Falun, an industrial and winter resort town 145 miles northwest of Stockholm. The gunman was captured after a shootout and confessed, police said. He was hospitalized with a gunshot wound in the hip. The violence was jarring in Sweden, which has only 120 to 150 reported murders a year.

'Love trouble' possible motivein slayings

The Lexington Herald-Leader

June 13, 1994

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- The army officer who shot down seven people in the winter resort of Falun had quarreled with one of the women earlier in the night at a disco in the town, his attorney said yesterday.

"Love trouble seems to have been the triggering factor," said defense attorney Gunnar Lundgren on Swedish radio.

Quarrel with woman cited in deadly attack

The Akron Beacon Journal

June 13, 1994

The army officer who shot down seven people in the winter resort of Falun had quarreled with one of the women earlier in the night at a disco in the town, his lawyer said Sunday. The army's chief psychiatrist, Per-Olof Michel, said mental illness or drug abuse also may have played a role. The officer used his army assault rifle when he killed five women and two men Saturday.

Gunman, woman argued before killings in Sweden

The State

July 13, 1994

The army officer who shot down seven people in the winter resort of Falun had quarreled with one of the women earlier in the night at a disco in the town, his lawyer said Sunday.

"Love trouble seems to have been the triggering factor," defense attorney Gunnar Lundgren said.

The army's chief psychiatrist, Per-Olof Michel, said mental illness or drug abuse also might have played a role.

Swedish officer held in 7 murders

The Boston Globe

July 8, 1994

STOCKHOLM -- An army officer was charged yesterday with murdering five women and two men in modern Sweden's bloodiest rampage. Army 2d Lt. Mattias Flink, 24, was also charged with three accounts of attempted murder by the district court in Falun, where the June 11 shooting occurred. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted. Flink is accused of killing the seven during a rampage in which 146 rounds were fired from an assault rifle.

Army officer kills 7; crime shocks Sweden

A Swedish army officer ran amok with an automatic rifle early Saturday, killing five young women and two men and seriously injuring another woman, police said.

Authorities called the attack the worst violent crime in modern Swedish history.

The soldier, a 24-year-old second lieutenant, walked out of his army base at Falun about 2:30 a.m. and opened fire indiscriminately on a group of party-goers.

Five of those killed were young women serving in an army auxiliary unit that had been on a one-week course at the base where the gunman was stationed, police said. The victims had been attending an outdoor party close to the base. Such parties are common in Sweden in June, when there is virtually no darkness.

The soldier calmly opened fire on the six women in a forested area and then shot the two men as he fled from the scene.

One man, who had been alerted by the noise, was killed as he arrived on the scene in his car. The other man was slain as he was riding past on his bicycle. All the victims were in their 20s, police said.

Two policemen encountered the gunman shortly after the attack. He opened fire on them, and the police shot him.

The gunman was in stable condition in a hospital Saturday and was questioned by police. A police spokesman declined to reveal any motive for the killings, but other officers said he apparently was drunk at the time.

Army spokesman Tage Johansson told the national news agency TT that all army officers were issued weapons, in this case a 5.56mm AK5 assault rifle. It was unclear how the gunman got his weapon past guards at the army base.

Col. Lars Walen, the killer's senior officer, told Swedish radio that he had no clue as to why the officer did it.

"It's completely meaningless and absurd," he said.

The violence of the attack was jarring in Sweden, where only 120 to 150 murders are reported a year. Police said the only similar killing they could recall was when a gunman killed one person in 1992 in Mora, a town in central Sweden.