Teen jailed for fatal school shooting

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (CNN) -- A 19-year-old Swedish man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for killing a student in a school bathroom.

The Stockholm District Court found the man guilty of fatally shooting 16-year-old Nicola Vasmatzis during a lunch break in January.

The court also sentenced an 18-year-old, who was a minor when the incident took place, to three years in juvenile detention for his role as an accessory to involuntary manslaughter.

Both pleaded innocent and the 19-year-old has appealed the ruling.

The 19-year-old's lawyer, Jan Anderson, said his client's sentence was the most severe ever handed down to a young person in Sweden.

"I have searched through court cases, but I have not found any other case where such a young person has been given such a long sentence," he said.

The man told the courts that he did not intend to kill Vasmatzis but only wanted to scare him during a school lunch break.

He said the gun went off by accident.

The five-member court panel found that the two suspects were trying to collect a debt from the victim's elder brother.

They also said the man was alone at the time of the slaying and that he was under the influence of drugs.

The incident, which took place at the Bromma secondary school in North Stockholm, shocked Sweden where gun crimes have been rare in the past.

Neither suspects were students at the school.

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CNN Sweden

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