Sweden's 'racist sniper' found guilty of two murders

A Swedish court on Tuesday found a man guilty of two murders and four attempted murders after he terrorised the southern city of Malmoe with a shooting spree targeting immigrants. Malmoe district court said in a statement it had found there was "convincing evidence that Peter Mangs has committed 13 (of the 20) crimes he was charged with, including two murders, four attempted murders." Mangs was found guilty of killing Kooros Effatian, a 66-year-old Iranian immigrant, in the victim's apartment in June 2003, and Trez West Persson, a 20-year-old Swedish woman who was shot while sitting in a parked car next to a friend of immigrant origin. The 40-year-old Swede was however acquitted of the murder of Firas al-Shariah, a 23-year-old man reportedly of Iraqi origin who was shot outside his front door in July 2003. Mangs was arrested in November 2010 after a massive manhunt following a string of shootings against people of immigrant origin that gripped Sweden's third largest city with fear. On Tuesday, he was also found guilty of four of the 12 counts of attempted murder he had been charged with, after having fired numerous shots with his Glock 19 pistol at homes, businesses and cars as well as out in the open, seriously injuring a number of people and coming close to killing many others. And he was found guilty of three counts of aggravated threats. The court said Mangs would now undergo a psychiatric exam to determine whether he should be sent to prison or a closed psychiatric ward, and that his sentence would likely be announced during the first half of September.