In 2013 I bought a 357 Highway Patrolman sold at an auction held in Stockholm Sweden. The S/N was S12036X so the gun should be from the first year of production 1954. The price was right and the gun was in almost mint condition. Apparently it had not been in use for many years since the oil had dried out. I was thinking a lot about the gun's past since magnums were rather rare in Sweden in the 50's among target shooters (just about the only reason to get a permit). How did it make it here and who was the former owner.
Anyway, in December 2017 I suddenly became aware of the gun's history. The gun was confiscated in my home by the Palme Investigation Team with the only explanation that it could be the gun that was used in the assassination of Olof Palme the Swedish Prime Minister that was gunned down on the street in Stockholm in a cold February 28th. night. Two rounds were fired Palme died instantaneously from one hit in the back and his wife was very slightly wounded/skin burn from the other bullet
My gun earlier belonged to a gun collector in Täby Stockholm that passed away in 2012, he bought it in 1955. The collector was a close friend of the prime murder suspect the so called Skandia man. The theory was that the Skandia man borrowed the gun for the assassination of Olof Palme. This was the strongest theory in the now 34 year long police investigation, one of the longest police investigations in history. My gun was missed at the initial test firings of 800 357's in Stockholm county since it was registered as a 38.
The gun was immediately upon confiscation brought to the National Forensic Center. I managed to figure out that the results from the test firing and bullets comparison was available already in February 2018. I then called one of the detectives that participated during the confiscation to check the possibility for return of the gun, this was however totally fruitless. I did the same thing about every 6 months but just felt treated like a mushroom. Then last week of May 2020 I was called by the same detective and informed that my gun was going to be released to me. Simultaneously it was broadcasted that a press conference was to be held on June 10th. where the chief prosecutor / chief investigator was going to present the resolution of the Palme murder. At the 2 hour press conference it was determined that the Skandiaman was the prime suspect but since he committed suicide in year 2000 he cold not be prosecuted. My gun was most likely the gun used, however, the bullets found at the crime scene were in to bad condition to be used for comparison of test fired bullets. My gun was a zero on a scale from +4 to -4, this was regarded as strong in this context, however not strong enough to keep the gun confiscated as evidence material. Due to the above two circumstances it was thereby decided to shut down the Palme murder investigation and the Palme Investigation Group to be dissolved.
A few days later I was contacted by the newspaper Aftonbladet and Expressen, my name was evident in the now public pre-investigation documents. Told my story and provided som photographs, see attachment. It became front page news.
For the moment I got no plans selling the gun but have been contacted by a collector very much wanting it but the bid was way to low.
I think that there may be collectors out there collecting guns used
in assassinations, just like the case with the Jack Ruby Colt snub. Could I be right? Also a guesstimated value would be very interesting.
I complained once at the very beginning to the detective by saying you confiscated the crown jewel in my collection. He just responded, that gun may really become the crown jewel, or at least something to tell the grand children about. Well, who knows...
Links to swedish media
Aftonbladet (in Swedish)
Expressen (in Swedish)
Links to same articles with google translate (not a perfect translation!)
Aftonbladet (with Google translate)
Expressen (with Google translate)
Anyway, in December 2017 I suddenly became aware of the gun's history. The gun was confiscated in my home by the Palme Investigation Team with the only explanation that it could be the gun that was used in the assassination of Olof Palme the Swedish Prime Minister that was gunned down on the street in Stockholm in a cold February 28th. night. Two rounds were fired Palme died instantaneously from one hit in the back and his wife was very slightly wounded/skin burn from the other bullet
My gun earlier belonged to a gun collector in Täby Stockholm that passed away in 2012, he bought it in 1955. The collector was a close friend of the prime murder suspect the so called Skandia man. The theory was that the Skandia man borrowed the gun for the assassination of Olof Palme. This was the strongest theory in the now 34 year long police investigation, one of the longest police investigations in history. My gun was missed at the initial test firings of 800 357's in Stockholm county since it was registered as a 38.
The gun was immediately upon confiscation brought to the National Forensic Center. I managed to figure out that the results from the test firing and bullets comparison was available already in February 2018. I then called one of the detectives that participated during the confiscation to check the possibility for return of the gun, this was however totally fruitless. I did the same thing about every 6 months but just felt treated like a mushroom. Then last week of May 2020 I was called by the same detective and informed that my gun was going to be released to me. Simultaneously it was broadcasted that a press conference was to be held on June 10th. where the chief prosecutor / chief investigator was going to present the resolution of the Palme murder. At the 2 hour press conference it was determined that the Skandiaman was the prime suspect but since he committed suicide in year 2000 he cold not be prosecuted. My gun was most likely the gun used, however, the bullets found at the crime scene were in to bad condition to be used for comparison of test fired bullets. My gun was a zero on a scale from +4 to -4, this was regarded as strong in this context, however not strong enough to keep the gun confiscated as evidence material. Due to the above two circumstances it was thereby decided to shut down the Palme murder investigation and the Palme Investigation Group to be dissolved.
A few days later I was contacted by the newspaper Aftonbladet and Expressen, my name was evident in the now public pre-investigation documents. Told my story and provided som photographs, see attachment. It became front page news.
For the moment I got no plans selling the gun but have been contacted by a collector very much wanting it but the bid was way to low.
I think that there may be collectors out there collecting guns used
in assassinations, just like the case with the Jack Ruby Colt snub. Could I be right? Also a guesstimated value would be very interesting.
I complained once at the very beginning to the detective by saying you confiscated the crown jewel in my collection. He just responded, that gun may really become the crown jewel, or at least something to tell the grand children about. Well, who knows...
Links to swedish media
Aftonbladet (in Swedish)
Expressen (in Swedish)
Links to same articles with google translate (not a perfect translation!)
Aftonbladet (with Google translate)
Expressen (with Google translate)
