Award-winning Swedish rap artist C. Gambino shot dead

LONDON

Swedish rap artist C. Gambino, who won a Grammi - his country's equivalent of a Grammy, was shot dead in the city of Gothenburg, Sweden, local media reported Wednesday.

The 26-year-old whose real name is Karar Ramadan was found with two gunshot wounds inside a parking garage late Tuesday near Selma Lagerlofs Square, according to the local tabloid Expressen.

The artist was taken to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

At the scene, seven bullet holes could be seen in a glass door of the parking garage.

Police believe the shooter or shooters were waiting for the artist before shooting him.

“He lives here in the area and when he came to park his car, they stood here waiting for him to leave the parking garage,” Thomas Fuxborg, a police spokesperson, was quoted as saying by the tabloid.

A preliminary investigation into the murder has been opened.

“We are working to collect witness information from as many as we can and continue to work on the technical investigation,” another police spokesperson Annika Laag was quoted as saying.

After the murder, the police task force raided an address in Gothenburg and took away several people for questioning, however, there is currently no suspect, according to Fuxborg.

The police are investigating whether the murder is connected to the long-standing gang conflict between northern and southern Biskopsgarden in Gothenburg, said Expressen.

The Scandinavian nation has long been grappling with a surge in gun violence that is also related to organized crime networks that operate throughout the country.

The war-like violence results in bombings and shootings between young individuals who often end up dead, according to the tabloid.

The Nordic country has seen drug-related gang violence skyrocket in the past few years with police linking it to gang conflicts that result in shootings and regular bombings that aim to intimidate neighborhoods and rival gang members, it said.

In recent years, the masked rapper has been one of Sweden's biggest rap artists and was awarded as recently as a few weeks ago with a Grammy for hip-hop song of the year.

On Spotify, he has around 1 million listeners a month, according to the music platform.

Last Friday, he released a single called Sista Gang, which has since been streamed more than 700,000 times on Spotify.