12-year-old boy detained after deadly £20k hit ‘kills wrong man’

A 12-year-old boy has been taken into care after allegedly carrying out a deadly shooting in Sweden - only to hit the wrong target in what police believe was a paid hit worth around £20,000.

The shooting happened late on Friday night in Malmö, when a 21-year-old man was gunned down while sitting in a car with friends in the Oxie area, according to a local Swedish newspaper.

Investigators say the child suspect had been recruited to carry out an assassination and was promised 250,000 Swedish kronor for the job, reports Expressen. 

However, authorities now say the dead man was not the intended target. Instead, police believe someone else inside the vehicle was meant to be killed.

Court documents show the boy has been placed under social care and given a legal representative. Under Swedish law, children under 15 cannot be sent to prison. Officers are also investigating claims that the child had been offered multiple violent assignments.

According to the local newspaper, the victim had recently been released from prison after serving more than two years for robbery, threats against an official and other offences.

Expressen reports that the friends with him in the car at the time of the shooting also have criminal records.