John Ausonius

John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius (born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg, 12 July 1953), known in the media as Lasermannen ("the Laser Man"), is a Swedish far-right extremist convicted of murder and 10 bank robberies. Between August 1991 to January 1992, he shot eleven people in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, most of whom were immigrants, killing one and seriously injuring the others. He first used a rifle equipped with a laser sight (hence his nickname), and later switched to a revolver. He was arrested in June 1992, and sentenced to life imprisonment in January 1994. Additionally, in February 2018, he was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany for the 1992 murder of Holocaust survivor Blanka Zmigrod.

Early life

Ausonius was born Wolfgang Alexander Zaugg in Lidingö, northeast of Stockholm. He is the son of a Swiss father and a German mother, both of whom had emigrated to Sweden. He grew up in Vällingby, a working-class suburb of Stockholm. According to newspaper reports, he was bullied as a child because of his non-Swedish background, which manifested in him being teased for having very black hair and brown eyes. As an adult, he bleached his hair blonde, used blue contact lenses and legally changed his name. Initially, he changed his name to John Wolfgang Alexander Stannerman, and later to John Wolfgang Alexander Ausonius. He went to the German School in Stockholm, an international school, but dropped out before graduating. He later completed his secondary school education in an adult education programme. Ausonius was accepted into the Royal Institute of Technology, but dropped out after a couple of years of unsuccessful study.