TERRORISM NOT RULED OUT AFTER NORWAY BOW-AND-ARROW ATTACK
A 37-year-old Dane arrested in Kongsberg is co-operating with police, his lawyer says
Four women and a man were killed and two were wounded in an attack in Norway on Wednesday by a man armed with a bow and arrows.
Police arrested and charged a 37-year-old Danish citizen and said a terrorist motive could not be ruled out.
Police chief Ole Saeverud on Thursday said the man, suspected of beginning the attack inside a supermarket, had been previously identified to officers as someone who may have been radicalised.
Local media identified him as Espen Andersen Brathen, who lives in Kongsberg, where the attack, which may also have involved knives, took place. Kongsberg is 66 kilometres south-west of capital city, Oslo.
One witness described how people ran for cover.
She told TV2, a local outlet, that she saw a woman taking cover before noticing a “man standing on the corner with arrows in a quiver on his shoulder and a bow in his hand”.
“Afterwards, I saw people running for their lives. One of them was a woman holding a child by the hand,” she said.
Other witnesses described seeing the victims lying on the ground as people screamed for help.
The wounded were taken to hospital and admitted to intensive care.
Police said an officer was inside the Co-op Extra supermarket as the attack unfolded.
Officers were alerted at 6.15pm local time on Wednesday and arrested a man about 30 minutes later.
Mr Saeverud said the victims were aged between 50 and 70 and were probably killed after the police first confronted the attacker at 6.18pm.
Oyvind Aas, head of police operations in Kongsberg, earlier said there was a confrontation between officers and the assailant, who fled. After he was found, officers fired warning shots and arrested him.
The man walked around the city shooting arrows at people, police said.
They said they would investigate whether the attack was an act of terrorism.
“From the information we have now, the person has carried out these actions alone,” Mr Aas said.
“From the course of events, it is natural to consider whether this is an act of terrorism, but the apprehended hasn’t been questioned and it is therefore too early to say anything about this.”
Mr Aas said the attack had made a “deep impression on Kongsberg” and its inhabitants.
Ida Skinness, who lives near the supermarket, was on her way out when her flatmate shouted at her to stay inside.
“Then I heard howls and screams outside and saw people running and then a lot of blue lights,” she told TV2.
The arrested man’s lawyer said his client was being questioned. “He is co-operating and is giving detailed statements regarding this event,” Fredrik Neumann told broadcaster NRK.
Police lawyer Ann Iren Svane Mathiassen told Norwegian news agency NTB that the man had not yet entered a plea but “is admitting to the facts of the case”.
Acting Prime Minister Erna Solberg described the attack as “gruesome”.
“I understand that many people are afraid but it’s important to emphasise that the police are now in control,” she said.
The prime minister-designate, Jonas Gahr Stoere, who had been scheduled to take office on Thursday, called the assault “a cruel and brutal act”.
Police officers on Thursday were combing the crime scene, looking for other weapons the attacker may have used.
City officials invited people who were affected by the attack and their relatives to gather for support at a local hotel.
King Harald V, Norway’s reigning monarch, expressed his sympathies in a letter addressed to the town’s mayor.
“We’re horrified by the tragic events at Kongsberg,” the 82-year-old king wrote.
“The rest of the nation stands with you.”
Four women and a man were killed and two were wounded in the attack that began in a supermarket