The assassination of Olof Palme
Stockholm, Sweden, 1986
This case is a work of fiction. The characters, names, places and events in the game do not portray real people. The account below is a factual summary, based on public sources, of the case that served as inspiration.
On the night of Friday, February 28, 1986, Sweden's prime minister, Olof Palme, 59, dismissed his bodyguards and went to the Grand cinema with his wife, Lisbet. Walking home along Sveavägen at 11:21 pm, he was shot in the back at the corner of Tunnelgatan and died almost at once. A second shot grazed Lisbet. The gunman fled up the Tunnelgatan staircase and vanished. The weapon was never found; judging by the two bullets passersby picked up from the sidewalk, it was a .357 Magnum revolver.
The investigation was marked by failures from the very first hour: the scene was not properly secured and the alarm to close off the city came late. In 1989, a small-time criminal, Christer Pettersson, identified by Lisbet in a lineup, was convicted at trial but was acquitted on appeal the same year, for lack of technical evidence and of the weapon. Over decades the police examined thousands of leads, from foreign groups to Swedish police officers.
Sources
In the game
Iron Steps
Stockholm, Saturday, March 1, 1986, 10:00 am. Last night at 11:21 pm, Housing Minister Viggo Lindqvist, 59, was walking home from the Aurora Cinema with his wife along the main avenue downtown, without bodyguards.
On June 10, 2020, prosecutor Krister Petersson named as the perpetrator Stig Engström, a graphic designer at the Skandia insurance company, whose building stood on the corner of the crime. He left work at 11:19 pm, presented himself as a witness, gave versions that changed over time, described a gunman who resembled himself and had experience with firearms through a shooting club. Since Engström had died in 2000, he could not be charged, and the investigation was closed. The evidence was circumstantial, and many in Sweden still have doubts.
