Christer Pettersson
Swedish criminal (1947–2004)
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Key Takeaways
- Carl Gustaf Christer Pettersson (23 April 1947 – 29 September 2004) was a Swedish criminal who was a suspect in the 1986 assassination of Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden.
- Life Pettersson was born on 23 April 1947 in Solna Parish in Solna, Sweden, to Roland Pettersson (1916–1977) and Inga Maria Hansson (1918–1973) and grew up in a middle-class family in Solna outside of Stockholm and later moved to the suburb of Sollentuna.
- However, Pettersson suffered a head injury from which he would never fully recover.
- In 1970, he stabbed a man to death in central Stockholm, during a street brawl in what the Swedish press dubbed the "bayonet murder".
- Pettersson was sentenced to closed psychiatric care for manslaughter for the killing.
Carl Gustaf Christer Pettersson (23 April 1947 – 29 September 2004) was a Swedish criminal who was a suspect in the 1986 assassination of Olof Palme, the Prime Minister of Sweden. In 1989 he was convicted of the murder in district court but acquitted on appeal the following year.
Life
Pettersson was born on 23 April 1947 in Solna Parish in Solna, Sweden, to Roland Pettersson (1916–1977) and Inga Maria Hansson (1918–1973) and grew up in a middle-class family in Solna outside of Stockholm and later moved to the suburb of Sollentuna. In his youth, he attended Calle Flygare Theatrical School, where he was considered to be promising by at least one of his teachers. However, Pettersson suffered a head injury from which he would never fully recover. Petterson then began a period of substance abuse, which would eventually force him to drop out of school.
In 1970, he stabbed a man to death in central Stockholm, during a street brawl in what the Swedish press dubbed the "bayonet murder". The killing took place just around the corner from what would later be the site of the Palme assassination. Pettersson was sentenced to closed psychiatric care for manslaughter for the killing. After less than two years he was released and continued a life of petty crime, which financed his alcohol and drug abuse.
Tried for murder of Olof Palme
On the night of 28 February 1986, Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, a Social Democrat, was shot and killed in Stockholm as he walked home from a cinema with his wife, Lisbet Palme. The killer quickly escaped and left no traces except two .357-caliber Magnum bullets. Witness statements about his appearance were confused and contradictory.
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