Tommy Zethraeus

Mass murderer

4known / alleged victims

Similar offenders

Mattias Flink Mass murderer · Sweden · 1994 Mattias Flink (born March 8, 1970) was a Swedish army officer who killed 7 peop… 7 victims

John Nordlund Mass murderer · Sweden · 1900 John Filip Nordlund (also known as ”Mälarmördaren”, ”Mordlund”, ”Svarte Filip”)… 5 victims

FR Fredrick Von Sydow Mass murderer · Sweden · 1932 Fredrik von Sydow (1908 – 7 March 1932) came from an upperclass family in Stock… 4 victims

Joseph Kibweteere Mass murderer · Uganda · 2000 Joseph Kibweteere led a breakaway sect known as the Movement for the Restoratio… 1000 victims

Gameel Al-Batouti Mass murderer · USA · 1999 Gameel Al-Batouti (also rendered “Gamil ElBatouty” or “El Batouty” in U.S. offi… 216 victims

Kim Dae-Han Mass murderer · South Korea · 2003 Name: Kim Dae-Han · Age: 56 · Occupation/background: He was an unemployed forme… 198 victims

Random profiles

RE Reginald Sublet Mass murderer · USA · 1998 Reginald Sublet was a twice-fired Texas police officer living in Montana. He wa… 4 victims

James Holmes Mass murderer · USA · 2012 James Eagan Holmes (born December 13, 1987) was the admitted perpetrator of a m… 12 victims

Andrew Yellowbear Murderer · USA · 2004 Andrew John Yellowbear Jr. (born September 5, 1974) was the defendant in a Wyom… 1 victim

David Burke Mass murderer · USA · 1987 David Augustus Burke (May 18, 1952–December 7, 1987) was an employee of USAir,… 43 victims

Michael McDermott Mass murderer · USA · 2000 Michael McDermott was an application support employee at Edgewater Technology i… 7 victims

SU Suchnam Singh Sandhu — Suchnam Singh Sandhu was a Sikh man from the Punjab who was 39 years old. He wo…

Case Facts

Gender: male
Country: Sweden
Location: Stockholm , Sweden
Date of birth: May 28, 1969
Age at first offence: 25
Characteristics: revenge, armed robbery
Victim profile: A man (nightclub bouncer) and three girls
Method of murder: Shooting ( standard Norwegian army issue AG-7 )
Date(s) of murder: December 4, 1994
Years active: 1994
Date of arrest: 3 days after
Status: Life imprisonment
Sentenced to life in prison September 1995

Case Summary

Background

Tommy Zethraeus and Guillermo Marques Jara had been refused to enter a night club called Sturecompagniet on December 4, 1994.

The offence

After leaving the club, Tommy Zethraeus and Guillermo Marques Jara arrived a few hours later armed with an automatic rifle. Tommy Zethraeus started shooting into the crowds at the front door to the night club, killing four people and injuring 20 people.

The killings were later referred to as the “Stureplan Murders”. The incident began when three youths in their mid twenties were barred from a restaurant. They then went away, fetched a machine gun, and massacred a large number of people who were queueing up to get in, including the head bouncer who had barred them.

Investigation

After the shootings, a three-day manhunt took place. Police caught up with Tommy Zethraeus and his buddies that accompanied him to the club.

Trial

At his trial in 1995, Tommy Zethraeus was charged with the murder of four people. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. His two accomplices both received 4 years.

Sentencing

In September 1995, Tommy Zethraeus was sentenced to life and was currently serving time in Sweden’s premiere maximum security prison.

Forensic psychiatric examination

The forensic psychiatric examination was conducted by professor of psychiatry Lars Lidberg. It included a so-called PET-scan of Zethraeus’ brain to ascertain its biological processes and any dysfunction which could have caused his behaviour.

The examination showed that Zethraeus had damage to his frontal lobe. The explanation given was that located in this particular area, the frontal lobe is the faculties of thought and the ability to understand the consequences of one’s actions, and that this effect rendered him unable to realize the result of his act.

Arrest and custody history

Tommy Zethraeus was arrested for the first time in August 1990 and was held in custody by the Stockholm police at Kronoberg remand centre.

Other people mentioned

The accomplices at the Stureplan Murders included Guillermo Marquez-Jara and Farshad Doosti. The account also stated that Jara had previously been in police custody between August 3rd and 4th 1991, and that Doosti had been in police custody in Falun in April/May 1993.

Other details

A 40 minute interview on Swedish television was mentioned in which Tommy Zethraeus expressed that he regretted killing three innocent bystanders while shooting at the bouncer.

A quoted phrase attributed to professor Lindstrom was included: “radio-hypnoticintracerebral control”.

Spotted an error, or have more information about this case?