Danish man was flagged for being radicalised

Bow-and arrow man is suspected to have shot people in several locations, killing five

ADanish man suspected of a bow-and-arrow attack on a small Norwegian town that killed five people and wounded two others is a convert to Islam who had previously been flagged as having being radicalised, police said yesterday.

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 radicalised,” Police chief Ole B. Saeverud told a news conference. He added that there were “complicated assessments related to the motive, and it will take time before this is clarified.”

Police alerted

Saeverud added that the last report of concern was last year. The victims were four women and one man between the ages of 50 and 70, he said.

Police were alerted at 6.12pm on Wednesday to a man shooting arrows in Kongsberg, some 66 km southwest of Oslo. Officers made contact with the suspect but he escaped and wasn’t caught until 6.47pm, 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.

Suspect admits killings

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 tAP.

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.

The bow and arrows were just part of the killer’s arsenal. Police are yet to confirm what other weapons he used.