Healing Hearts: Norway massacre survivor works to prevent a repeat

On the afternoon of July 22, 2011, Ihler, a 20-year-old theater major at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and a political activist, was hanging out with a few friends on Utoya, a small, heart-shaped emerald isle set on the waters of the Tyrifjorden lake in Buskerud County, Norway, roughly 24 miles from the capital city of Oslo.

The youth wing of Norway’s Labour Party that owns Utoya Island was holding a summer camp there for hundreds of young people.

Ihler and others on the island had heard about a bomb blast in Oslo earlier that day that had claimed eight lives. Despite news of the blast, many on the island felt they would be safe there – miles away from chaotic Oslo.

But on that day, the scenic island’s fairy tale-like tranquility was shattered. As Ihler and others found out within minutes, a lone-wolf killer wielding a handgun and an assault rifle was indiscriminately and heartlessly killing young people as he walked calmly across the island. He was also wearing the garb of a policeman.

Ihler saw several young people run toward the man thinking he was a responding officer. The man was later identified as right-wing extremist Anders Breivik, the person also responsible for the Oslo bombing. As several youths ran to him for help, Breivik pointed at them and fired.

Ihler and the others turned around and ran toward the woods. His brain wasn’t able to comprehend that he’d just seen someone shot to death, but Ihler knew he had to stay low and be very quiet if he wanted to get out of there alive.

As Ihler ran, he saw a young boy near a trail and took the 8-year-old with him. Both hid for about a half-hour. It seemed like an eternity. And then, the gunshots got closer. Another group of people came running toward him. There was a 9-year-old boy in the group. Ihler took both boys with him and they ran together. They had to leave the trail because there was a pile of dead bodies blocking the way.

Ihler and the boys ran almost to the edge of the island when they saw blue flashing lights. Help had finally arrived, Ihler thought. He took out his cellphone and gave it to the boys, whose fathers were security guards on the island. Ihler told them to call their moms and tell them they were safe. He then called his father.

A uniformed police officer walked up to them as Ihler talked to his dad: “Yeah, I’m safe.”

That’s when Ihler saw the man he believed was a cop point his gun at them. Ihler realized they were face to face with the shooter. Breivik fired at Ihler and missed. Ihler grabbed the boys and all three jumped into the ice cold lake and started to swim. Breivik followed and shot at them several times.

“I thought I was dead,” Ihler recalled last week by phone from Oslo. “It was surreal. I felt like my soul had left my body.”

Ihler and the boys were in the water for about 30 minutes, until they were picked up by tourist boats and taken back to the island. By this time, Breivik had surrendered after killing 69 on the island, 33 of whom were under 18. At least 100 more were injured, 55 of them severely.

During his 10-week trial, which began April 12, 2012, Breivik ranted about his political views just as victims were given an opportunity to tell their stories. Breivik smiled as he entered the courtroom making a fascist salute, his right fist clenched. While his guilt was never at question, his sanity was. Eventually, he was found legally sane and sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum sentence in Norway.

Ihler was there on most days, sitting in the courtroom with his laptop as he completed a course to get his bachelor’s degree in theater and performing design and technology.

He said he was satisfied with the sentence. He believes Norway’s treatment of Breivik was a sign of a fundamentally civilized nation, which has shunned the death penalty and has embraced a rehabilitative, as opposed to a retributive, criminal justice system. After completing his sentence, Breivik will most likely be sent back to prison because he would still be deemed a threat to public safety. Ihler believes Breivik will spend the rest of his life there.

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Source: Orange County Register, Deepa Bharath, December 26, 2014

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