Rising hip hop star Einar was shot and killed outside of an apartment building in Stockholm, according to a report by NDTV. Police are still searching for suspects and leads.
Whoa.
Einar was named as the most-streamed artist on Spotify (in Swede) during 2019, and he has continued to gain popularity outside of the country since then.
Reports have said that he was shot by unknown assailants shortly before 11 p.m. local time on Thursday night, and was attended to by first responders who arrived in an ambulance. He was, however, pronounced dead on the scene.
Stockholm Police spokesperson Towe Hagg told reporters that his team is in search for suspects, but did not disclose if there were any leads in the case.
“We are actively working to figure out why it happened and who can be behind it,” Hagg said.
Einar’s real name is Nils Kurt Erik Einar Gronberg, and like many, his lyrics often referenced crimes like selling drugs.
He was also the target of another violent crime last year involving Yasin, another Swedish rapper.
Yasin, who was arrested and jailed for 10 months, was charged with a conspiracy to kidnap Einar. The plan went forward without Yasin’s involvement as Einar was abducted, robbed, beaten and blackmailed. They went as far as releasing some photos of him in humiliating conditions.
The kidnapping (and subsequent torture) was lumped into a broader case file, which expanded the grounds to 30 suspects in one criminal network. Strangely enough, one of the arrests included yet another Swedish rapper, Haval Khalil, who was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for his complicity in Einar’s kidnapping.
(What the fvck is going on with Swedish rappers.)
RIP to Einar.
