"I think he just decided to shoot someone - anyone"

”I thought, this just can't be happening; glass shards were flying all over the car and over my son," the man recounts after his car was shot twice in Bygdeå on Monday, to VK (the local news outlet). "When I saw a man aiming at us with a rifle, I stepped on the gas. That's when the second shot came."

Foto: Veronika Åström/VK

Bygdeå2023-08-01 12:14

The man and his four-year-old son were on their way to buy ice cream when their car was shot at in Bygdeå.

– I was in the area on another errand and had promised the boy that he would get ice cream. That's why we didn't take the E4 motorway, but the coastal road to Bygdeå, the man told VK.

His son was in the front seat, and as soon as the car turned onto the main road in Bygdeå, there was a loud bang.

– Shards of glass flew all over the car and there was a big hole in the windscreen. At first, I didn't understand what had happened. We hadn't hit anyone, so it couldn't have been a stone. Both my son and I were covered in glass.

Using an eye spray, he rinsed his son's eyes and checked that no glass had got in.

–The boy started to cry, and we stayed in the car while I wiped his eyes and tried to calm him down.

The man still didn't understand what had shattered the windscreen. It wasn't until he saw a man standing on a balcony a short distance away that he realised.

– Then suddenly, in my peripheral vision, I saw a man pointing what I thought was a rifle at us. It had a big scope, and when he pointed it at us, I realised it and stepped on the gas. That's when the second shot came.

The bullet penetrated the car. It was later confirmed that the first shot had passed within centimetres of the four-year-old's head.

– I thought, this can't be happening. We just have to get out of here.

As he drove away at full speed, he took out his mobile phone and called the police. He said the first officers arrived very quickly.

– It was probably only 15-20 minutes before they had him (the shooter) in custody. They did a fantastic job, and we got all the help and support we needed from them.

After the shooter was apprehended, both father and son were questioned by police and the car was impounded for a technical check.

A day later, he still cannot fully comprehend what happened, how close they came to a complete disaster that could have cost his son his life.

– My first thoughts were: why did he shoot? Why did this happen to us?

– Now I more fully understand that it was all random. It could just as easily have been someone else passing by at that moment.

– I think he just decided to shoot someone - anyone.