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An award-winning Swedish hip-hop artist known by the alias C Gambino has been shot dead in a suspected gang-related attack, police say.
C.Gambino was shot at least twice in an apparent deliberate attack in a public parking garage in the western city of Gothenburg, a police spokesman said on Wednesday, adding that the rapper was aged about 25.
The Gothenburg police spokesman said there were links between the artist and one or more criminal networks.
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“We suspect the crime has links to the gangs environment,” he said, declining to elaborate.
Sweden has struggled for years to contain violence linked to organised crime.
Deadly shootings in the country of 10 million have more than tripled over the past decade to significantly exceed levels in its neighbours.
Police estimate 62,000 persons are active in, or have links to, criminal networks.
C.Gambino, who has nearly one million monthly listeners on the Spotify streaming service, had kept his identity hidden and wore a mask in public, including at the Swedish Grammis music awards ceremony last month, where he was named Swedish hip-hop artist of 2023.
The late artist is not to be confused with US artist Childish Gambino.
Police said he was found by officers who responded to reports of the shooting and pronounced dead in hospital.
They said several people had been interviewed as part of the murder investigation, but no one was yet detained.
Police declined to share the rapper’s real name.
In 2021, another Swedish rapper, Einar, whose real name was Nils Gronberg, was shot dead at the age of 19.
The year before, Einar was abducted and assaulted by rival rappers.