Rapper Einar Murdered at 19, Shot ‘Execution Style’

The award-winning Swedish rapper Nils “Einar” Gronberg was killed in an apparent gang-related tragedy. He was just 19.

On Thursday (Oct. 21), he was gunned down outside an apartment building in the Hammarby Sjostad suburb south of central Stockholm and was pronounced dead on the scene. Police are currently looking for two suspects in his murder and are currently analyzing CCTV footage.

Local Swedish outlets reported that he was shot multiple times "execution style" in the chest from about 1.5 meters away.

“A young life has been extinguished, and I understand that he meant a lot to many young people. It is tragic,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said in a press conference.

Last year, he was kidnapped, beaten and held for ransom by Vårby gang members. Fellow rapper Haval Khalil was used to lure him into the flat where they captured him. Prior to their successful attempt, they previously tried to kidnap him and abduct him from a studio by using another rapper as bait but were unsuccessful.

Einar was set to testify against Yasin Mahamoud and Haval Khalil for their roles in the kidnapping and conspiracy to kidnap, both men are appealing the charges and deny their involvement. Einar had reportedly been receiving death threats the last few months, it is unclear if it had anything to do with the kidnapping or was unrelated.

Einar first went viral for his track, “Katten i trakten” ("The Cat in the Neighborhood") from his debut album Forsta klass, which topped the Swedish charts in 2019 and received over 8 million views on YouTube.