The man is suspected of having shot at people in a number of locations in the town of Kongsberg on Wednesday evening. Several of the victims were in a supermarket, police said.
“There earlier had been worries of the man having been radicalized,” Police chief Ole B. Saeverud told a news conference.
The victims were four women and one man between the ages of 50 and 70, Saeverud said.
Officials believe that the man didn’t start killing people until police arrived on the scene.
“From what we know now, it is reasonably clear that some, probably everyone, was killed after the police were in contact with the perpetrator,” Saeverud said.
Speaking calmly and clearly after his arrest, the suspect told police, “I did this,” said Ann Iren Svane Mathiassen, the police attorney who is leading the investigation.
“He talked calmly and clearly described what he had done. He admitted killing the five people,” she told The Associated Press
The rampage happened in clear view of dozens of witnesses in this small town, which today is in hushed shock, according to onlookers. Police have already spoke to between 20 and 30 witnesses who saw the attacker wound and kill his victims, according to Svane Mathiassen.
“There are people who saw him in the city. Before the killings. That is when he injured people,” Svane Mathiassen said.
Witness Erik Benum, who lives on the same road as the supermarket that one of the crime scenes, told the AP that he saw the escaped shop workers sheltering in doorways.
“I saw them hiding in the corner. Then I went to see what was happening, and I saw the police moving in with a shield and rifles. It was a very strange sight.”
The following morning, the whole town was eerily quiet, he said. “People are sad and shocked.”
The bow and arrow were just part of the killer’s arsenal. But police are yet to confirm what other weapons he used. Weapons experts and other technical officers are being drafted in to help with the investigation.
Both the hospitalized victims are in intensive care. They include an off-duty police officer who was inside the store. Their condition was not immediately known.
The suspect is being held on preliminary charges, which is a step short of formal charges. Police believe he acted alone.
Police were alerted to the attack around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday and arrested the suspect about 30 minutes later.
“It goes without saying that this is a very serious and extensive situation, and it naturally affects Kongsberg and those who live here,” Police spokesman Oeyvind Aas said earlier.
Newly appointed Prime Minister-Jonas Gahr Stoere called the attack “horrific.”
“This is unreal. But the reality is that five people have been killed, many are injured and many are in shock ,” Gahr Stoere told Norwegian broadcaster NRK.
In a statement to the mayor of Kongsberg, Norwegian King Harald V said people have “experienced that their safe local environment suddenly became a dangerous place. It shakes us all when horrible things happen near us, when you least expect it, in the middle of everyday life on the open street.”
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter that he was “shocked and saddened by the tragic news coming from Norway.”
Town officials said the main church was open to anyone in need of support.
Kongsberg, a small town of some 26,000 inhabitants, is about 66 kilometers (41 miles) southwest of Oslo.
Source: The Associated Press, J. Olsen, October 14, 2021
Norway says bow-and-arrow attack that killed 5 was act of terrorism
Danish national suspected of assault in small town is a Muslim convert flagged as radical who had raised concerns in the past, say police
KONGSBERG, Norway — Norway’s security agency said Thursday a bow-and-arrow attack that killed five people and wounded two others appears to have been an act of terrorism.
“Attacks on random people in public places are a recurring modus operandi among extremist Islamists carrying out terror in the West,” said the domestic security agency, known by its acronym PST.
The agency said that “the most probable scenario of an extremely Islamist terrorist attack in Norway is an attack carried out by one or a few perpetrators with simple weapon types, against targets with few or no security measures.”
Police said earlier that the Danish man who is in custody for the attack on a small town is a Muslim convert who had previously been flagged as having being radicalized.
“There earlier had been worries of the man having been radicalized,” police chief Ole B. Saeverud told a news conference. “We haven’t had any reports about him in 2021, but earlier,” he added.
Ann Iren Svane Mathiassen, the police attorney who is leading the investigation, told the Norwegian broadcaster NRK that the suspect will be assessed by forensic psychiatric experts Thursday. “This is not unusual in such serious cases,” she was quoted as saying.
The victims were four women and one man between the ages of 50 and 70, Saeverud said.
The 37-year-old Dane is suspected of having shot at people in a number of locations in the town of Kongsberg on Wednesday evening. Several of the victims were in a supermarket, police said.
Norwegian news agency NTB quoted police as saying the suspect also used other weapons. There was “a confrontation” between officers and the assailant in connection with the arrest, police said but gave no details.
Both the hospitalized victims are in intensive care. They include an off-duty police officer who was inside the supermarket. Their condition was not immediately known.
Police said officers responding to the incident were also shot at with arrows.
The suspect is being held on preliminary charges, which is a step short of formal charges. Police believe he acted alone.
“We have no information indicating anything else, but we are continuing investigations to be completely sure,” Saeverud said.
Police were alerted to the attack around 6:15 p.m. Wednesday and arrested the suspect about 30 minutes later.
Police spokesman Oeyvind Aas said that “we will return to a more detailed description of the course of events when we have a better overview of what happened.”
“It goes without saying that this is a very serious and extensive situation, and it naturally affects Kongsberg and those who live here,” he said.
Prime Minister-designate Jonas Gahr Stoere, who is expected to take office later Thursday, called the attack “horrific.”
“This is unreal. But the reality is that five people have been killed, many are injured and many are in shock,” Gahr Stoere told Norwegian broadcaster NRK on Thursday.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote on Twitter that he was “shocked and saddened by the tragic news coming from Norway.”
Town officials said the main church was open to anyone in need of support.
Kongsberg, a small town of some 26,000 inhabitants, is about 66 kilometers (41 miles) southwest of Oslo.
The attack was the deadliest in the country since far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in 2011.
Since then, Norway has seen one other far-right attack, carried out by a self-proclaimed neo-Nazi who opened fire into a mosque.
Source: timesofisrael.com, Agencies, October 14, 2021
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"One is absolutely sickened, not by the crimes that the wicked have committed,
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde
but by the punishments that the good have inflicted." -- Oscar Wilde