Gangs of Sweden? Country Known for Peace and Safety Hit With Drive-by Shootings, Violence

Growing violence in Sweden is shattering its image as a peaceful country.

The number of shootings has doubled since 2013, according to the Guardian, and it has the highest gun death rate per capita of any country in Europe.

Executions carried out by "child soldiers" at apartment buildings have become routine, according to France news agency AFP.

"What started out as gun violence between young gangs looking to defend their territory has turned into a vicious circle of firearms trafficking and gun violence," Nils Duquet, a firearms researcher, told the BBC.

Criminology professor Felipe Estrada Dorner of Stockholm University told AFP it “has gotten totally out of control: They've started attacking loved ones and those who have nothing to do with these conflicts."

At least 50 people have been shot to death in the country this year and there have reportedly been more than 140 explosions.

Lawyer Evin Cetin tells the BBC that gangs are recruiting boys as young as 13.

"Children are using their own bags not to carry books, but they carry the drug markets in Sweden on their own shoulders," Cetin told the BBC.

Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has vowed to increase penalties for deadly violence.

Worries about the country's image also reportedly are growing.

"Sweden has always been viewed as an extremely safe country. Maybe one of the top safe countries in the world. And this image is falling apart," researcher Klara Hradilova-Selin at the Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention told the BBC.

Sweden’s central bank leader claims the gang problem could hurt the country’s economic potential.

Riksbank governor Erik Thedéen told the Financial Times that gang violence could hurt the trust citizens have in the authorities.