Cops knew of fanatic before five bow and arrow killings
A TERROR suspect charged over the bow and arrow killings of five people had converted to Islam and was known to intelligence services, it has emerged.
Espen Andersen Bråthen, 37, is feared to have carried out Norway’s worst mass murder since Anders Breivik killed 77 people in 2011, despite authorities being warned he had been radicalised.
The martial arts fanatic (pictured) had been investigated two years ago over a Facebook video in which he said: ‘Hello. I’m a messenger. I come with a warning. Bear witness that I am a Muslim.’
Four women and one man – aged 50 to 70 – were killed in the rampage through the town of Kongsberg, 42 miles from the capital Oslo on Wednesday. Two people, one an off-duty police officer, were wounded at a supermarket and are in intensive care.
The spree happened after the attacker was seen by police but fired arrows at them to escape.
Bråthen was arrested 35 minutes later after officers chased him over a bridge and fired warning gun shots. ‘It is likely all the killings took place after the first police sighting of him,’ said police chief Ole Bredrup Saeverud. He added: ‘There were concerns over radicalisation. Those reports were followed up.’
Police lawyer Ann Iren Svane Mathiassen said: ‘He is admitting to the facts of the case. We’ll have to see if he also pleads guilty.’ Bråthen’s lawyer Fredrik Neumann confirmed he was ‘cooperating and giving detailed statements’. Norway’s police are usually unarmed but have been ordered to carry weapons to reassure the public. Bråthen, who lived in the town, is a Danish citizen whose mother is from Denmark and father from Norway. Far-right extremist Breivik is serving 21 years for killing 77 people – most of them teenagers at a youth camp.