[3] Mangs suspected that he had the disorder since at least 2005, when he joined an association for people with Asperger syndrome, and was formally diagnosed in May 2009.
[5] Mangs was familiar with white supremacist literature and had read about lone wolf tactical materials.
[7][8][9] Mangs committed the killings aiming to ignite a race war by targeting people in select categories who represented types of people who he believed should not live in Malmö: "race traitors", Muslims, Roma, and Swedes of African descent.
[6] In June and July 2003, at the age of 31,[1] he killed two men, 65-year-old Kooros Effatian and 23-year-old Firas al-Shariah; he selected them as victims due to their names indicating non-white heritage.
"Many people are frightened at the moment", said Tahmoures Yassami, the leader of the Iranian-Swedish Association in Malmö, "especially families who have children.
[14] At the same time, they cautioned people of ethnic minorities to avoid secluded areas after dark, which was when the attacks had been taking place.
[15] The shooter was compared to the likes of John Ausonius, dubbed the "Laser Man" (Swedish: Lasermannen), who committed similar crimes in 1991–92, targeting eleven men of immigrant origin in the Stockholm and Uppsala area, killing one.