Killer Stalked Palme, Swedish Police Suspect

Police said Sunday that Prime Minister Olof Palme’s assassination was almost certainly premeditated and appeared to be the work of a calculating killer who had stalked his victim for at least a day.

Police also said that tests on the bullets used in the killing showed that the murder weapon was a .357 magnum, one of the world’s most powerful handguns. They described the type of bullets used in the killing as being of a copper-jacketed kind rarely seen in Sweden.

Palme, who was twice Sweden’s prime minister for a total of 11 years and was his country’s most influential international statesman, was killed late Friday night by a lone assassin as he left a movie theater with his wife, Lisbeth, 55.

‘Followed Them to Movies’

“We reckon that the murderer followed them to the movies and waited in or around the movie house to make the assault,” Police Commissioner Hans Holmer said at a press conference. “He followed them at least during Friday. I feel the murder was planned.”

Those charged with providing personal security for Palme and other high-ranking Swedish officials admitted Saturday that the prime minister was without any personal bodyguard for a period of 12 hours before the assassination.

Although the absence of such protection is virtually unheard of in other parts of the world, Palme was reported to have frequently dismissed his bodyguards and taken pride in the fact that he could move freely through the streets without concern.

With political assassination unknown in modern Sweden, such light security did not seem irresponsible. The level of violence here is well below that of other Western nations.

As part of a public appeal for information from anyone who might have seen Palme and his wife--and possibly the assassin--Friday evening, Holmer carefully retraced the couple’s 20-minute trip from their residence to the movie theater, which included a brief ride on the city’s subway.

“We’re seeking information,” Holmer said. “We’re still chasing the murderer; however, at the moment, we have no hot clues.”

He said that more than 1,000 people have given information to the police so far.

But later Sunday, it appeared that police were working with a more detailed description of the killer than previously believed.

Widow Described Killer

Sources close to the police appeared to clarify earlier confusion by stating that Palme’s widow had seen the killer and given a description to the police.

Palme’s 23-year-old son, Marten, who had met his parents briefly outside the theater after the movie, provided a very similar description to police of a man loitering around the theater’s entrance, these sources said.

Police have reportedly begun to rule out the possibility that the killing was a psychopathic act. Seeming to rule out such a conclusion were the apparently careful planning of the crime and the relative ease with which the killer made his getaway.

The number of potential escape routes open to the killer was nowhere greater than at the point where the assassination took place--along a major thoroughfare but at a dimly lit alleyway entrance that provides access to a part of inner-city Stockholm’s maze of multi-level pedestrian walks.

At his news conference, Holmer said the bullet found late Saturday near the scene of the killing was unlike any of the 500 to 600 samples known to Stockholm police. Weapons experts said it was designed to penetrate bulletproof vests, although Palme was not wearing one.

‘Peculiar’ Bullet

“It is a peculiar one,” he said, describing it as being lead with a copper jacket.

The two bullets fired at Palme both went completely through his body, according to police. The second bullet was found late Sunday after police collected and melted piles of snow in the area around the alleyway entrance.

One of the bullets went through Mrs. Palme’s clothing and is said to have scratched her skin. She has been under heavy sedation for much of the period since the attack.

Meanwhile, Sweden’s caretaker government held its first session and discussed arrangements for Palme’s funeral, set for March 15. Foreign Ministry spokesman Lars Loennback said the funeral will be closed to the public but that foreign guests will be invited. Social Minister Gertrud Sigurdsen said there will be no declaration of official mourning, for which Sweden has no precedent.

“The spontaneous reaction of mourning, how people reacted, was correct,” she said.

Foreign leaders and officials have joined the Swedes in mourning Palme’s death. Expressions of condolences have come from around the world from such figures as Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II to Georgy A. Arbatov, a top Soviet foreign policy adviser who said, in a tearful Swedish television appearance, that Palme’s death must not be allowed to damage Soviet-Swedish relations. Those ties have been strained by alleged violations of Swedish waters by Soviet submarines.

The spot where Palme died has become the object of a pilgrimage for Swedes, some of whom had traveled hundreds of miles to place bouquets as a mark of respect.

Many lifted small children in the air, so they could see the array of flowers over the heads of the crowd surrounding the spot.

About 60,000 people gathered in a silent march against violence Sunday night in the city of Goteborg, a traditional stronghold of Palme’s Social Democratic Party.