Norway bow and arrow attack - live: Man accused of killing five ‘had shown signs of radicalisation’
Latest developments as they happen
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Your support makes all the difference.Police in Norway have confirmed the man charged with killing five people and injuring two others in a bow and arrow attack was a Muslim convert it was previously concerned about over signs of radicalisation.
"There earlier had been worries of the man having been radicalised," Police chief Ole B Saeverud told a press conference.
The man, who was not further identified, has confessed to going on a rampage in Kongsberg, southwest of the capital Oslo, prosecutor Ann Iren Svane Matthiassen said, adding he was was questioned overnight.
The victims were four women and one man between the ages of 50 and 70, Saeverud added. The man is suspected of having shot at people in a number of locations in the town of Kongsberg on Wednesday evening
In a statement, police said the suspect is a 37-year-old Danish citizen who lives in Kongsberg.
Police prosecutor Ann Irén Svane Mathiassen said other weapons were used during the incident, without giving additional details of the weapons, Norwegian news agency NTB was told.
Jonas Gahr Store calls attack ‘cruel’ and ‘brutal’
New Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who is expected to take office Thursday said: “What we have heard from Kongsberg tonight testifies that a cruel and brutal act has been committed.
“We still know little about what happened and what is behind it, but we know that several innocent people were killed and that several were injured.
“My thoughts and deepest sympathy are with those affected, their families, and with the police, the health workers who are now working full time to assist those who need help.”
Witness hears police shout ‘Put down your weapon!'
Sarkis Younan, who lives next to the Coop Extra store where the attack reportedly took place, told local media: “I was sitting and watching Squid Game when I suddenly saw and heard sirens.
“I thought it was in the TV series. Suddenly I heard the police screaming like hell: ‘Put down your weapon!’”
Mass killings rare in Norway
The country’s worst peacetime slaughter was on July 22, 2011, when right-wing extremist Anders Breivik set off a bomb in the capital of Oslo, killing eight people.
Then he headed to tiny Utoya Island, where he stalked the mostly teen members of the Labor Party’s youth wing and killed another 69 victims.
Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum under Norwegian law, but his term can be extended as long as he’s considered a danger to society.
Pictures from the scene
Police in Norway temporarily armed after attack
Following the attacks, the police directorate said it had ordered officers nationwide to carry firearms.
Norwegian police are normally unarmed but officers have access to guns and rifles when needed.
“This is an extra precaution. The police have no indication so far that there is a change in the national threat level,” the directorate said in a statement.
Bows and arrows don’t kill people, people kill people, says gun advocate Lauren Boebert
The US congresswoman was quick to chime in on the tragic mass arrow showing in Norway, saying Norway has some of the strictest gun laws around.
“Yet mass killings still occur,” she said in a tweet. “Liberals need to understand it is not the gun - it is the criminal who commits the act!”
Outgoing prime minister Erna Solberg noted in a press conference that mass killings in Norway are rare.
It has been more than a decade since extremist Anders Behring Breivik set a bomb off in Oslo’s government district before going on a shooting massacre at the summer camp of the country’s Labor Party’s youth organization on Utoya island.
He killed 77 people.
Two injured, including an off-duty police officer, remain in intensive care
Police said one of the two injured in the Norway attack was an off-duty police officer inside the shop where the attack took place, according to the AP.
The two survivors of the attack were taken to a hospital and remain in intensive care undergoing treatment.
At least 5 dead and two injured in bow and arrow attack, police confirm
The death toll in the Norway attack has climbed to at least five with another two injured, Norway police confirm.
The latest via NRK US correspondent Anders Tvegard.
Government handover will not be affected, says outgoing prime minister
The bow and arrow attack that killed four people in Norway happened on the eve of a new government taking power in the country.
Outgoing prime minister Erna Solberg told reporters that the mass murder, rare in Norway, would not affect that handover and the new prime minister would be sworn in as planned, according to NPK.
The incoming prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre has been informed of the situation, she said.
Too early to determine motive of ‘gruesome’ attack, says Prime Minister
Erna Solberg tells reporters that it is too early to identify a clear motive for the “gruesome” attack that left at least four dead and more wounded.
Speaking at a press conference, the Prime Minister of Norway said officers would remain armed until further notice, Norwegian Public Broadcasting reported.
The suspect has been transported to a police station in Drammen, about 40 miles east of the attack in Kongsberg.
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