Norway town absorbs horror of local's bow-and-arrow attack

KONGSBERG, Norway — Residents of a Norwegian municipality with a arrogant bequest of producing coins, weapons and metallic grappled Friday with the horrible cognition that idiosyncratic surviving successful their assemblage utilized a bow and arrow to onslaught radical doing their market buying oregon different evening activities — and succeeded successful sidesplitting 5 of them.

On a cardinal quadrate successful Kongsberg, a erstwhile mining municipality of 26,000 radical surrounded by mountains and located southwest of Norway’s capital, radical laic flowers and lit candles successful grant of the 4 women and a antheral who died successful Wednesday’s attack. The victims ranged successful property from 50 to 70, constabulary person said.

“This a a tiny assemblage truthful astir everybody knows each other, truthful it’s a precise unusual and precise bittersweet acquisition for us,” Ingeborg Spangelo, a teacher who brought her students to the impromptu memorial, said. “It is astir surreal oregon unreal.”

Officers arrested a Kongsberg nonmigratory identified arsenic Espen Andersen Braathen, a 37-year-old Danish citizen, astir a half-hour aft helium began firing arrows successful a supermarket wherever constabulary tried to face him but mislaid show of him erstwhile helium fired astatine them and they had to instrumentality cover, instrumentality enforcement authorities person said.

Andersen Braathen proceeded from the supermarket into a quiescent downtown vicinity of woody houses and birch trees, wherever helium fired astatine radical connected the thoroughfare and wrong immoderate apartments, constabulary said. Along with the 5 radical killed, 3 were injured.

Senior constabulary serviceman Per Thomas Omholt said Friday that 3 weapons successful each were utilized successful the attack, but helium declined to place the types oregon to uncover however the 5 victims were killed, saying investigators request to interrogation much witnesses and don’t privation their accounts tainted by what they work successful the news.

Officers who responded to the archetypal alert, astatine 6.13. p.m., encountered the perpetrator successful the supermarket. That is wherever an off-duty constabulary serviceman who was buying was injured, reportedly deed by an arrow successful the shoulder. Police were changeable astatine doubly with arrows, and arsenic they sought structure and called for reinforcement they mislaid ocular interaction with the fishy who managed to escape. Investigators judge the 5 victims were killed aft the fishy encountered the police.

“The killings were committed some outdoors and indoors. Among different things, (the suspect) has visited backstage addresses. In addition, arrows were fired astatine radical successful the nationalist space,” Omholt told a property conference.

The determination authoritative starring the probe has said that Andersen Braathen confessed to the killings aft his arrest, and constabulary said they deliberation helium acted alone. Norway’s home quality bureau said Thursday that the lawsuit appeared to beryllium “an enactment of terrorism” but cautioned that the probe was ongoing.

Norwegian broadcaster NRK said Friday that successful 2015 the agency, known by its acronym PST, got accusation astir Andersen Braathen and successful 2017 they met the suspect. The pursuing year, PST contacted Norwegian wellness authorities astir the antheral and concluded that helium was not driven by religion oregon ideology, but was earnestly mentally ill.

Omholt said that arsenic of Friday, investigators were continuing to research imaginable motives oregon reasons for the onslaught but their ”strongest proposal for motive is illness.” Andersen Braathen’s “health has deteriorated,” the serviceman said, declining the springiness specifics.

“We enactment with respective hypotheses. They are weakened and strengthened during the investigation,” Omholt said. “We volition find retired what has happened, and wherefore it has happened,”

Andersen Braathen has been transferred to a psychiatric installation and “now the shot lies with the wellness authorities” connected erstwhile constabulary tin question him. Omholt added that “at least” 2 experts volition observe and measure Andersen Braathen to find if helium was legally sane astatine the clip of the attack.

The suspect’s intelligence wellness meant that “it is important to get accusation astir the accused’s past,” Omholt said and called for witnesses. Police said they wanted to representation the suspect’s activities successful caller years, including connected societal media.

Mass killings are uncommon successful low-crime Norway, and the onslaught instantly recalled the country’s worst peacetime slaughter a decennary ago, erstwhile a right-wing home extremist killed 77 radical with a bomb, a firearm and a pistol.

“The screaming was truthful aggravated and horrifying determination was ne'er immoderate uncertainty thing precise superior was going on,” said Kongsberg nonmigratory Kurt Einar Voldseth, who had returned location from an errand erstwhile helium heard the commotion Wednesday. “I tin lone picture it arsenic a ‘death scream,’ and it burned into my mind.”

Voldseth said helium recognized the attacker, saying helium lived adjacent and “usually walks with his caput down and headphones on.”

“I person lone spoken to him a fewer times, but I person had the content helium mightiness beryllium a idiosyncratic with problems,” helium said.

During an archetypal proceeding Friday, a tribunal successful Kongsberg ordered Andersen Braathen held successful custody for 4 weeks, including 2 weeks successful isolation positive a prohibition connected communicating with others.

“Reference is made to the highly superior quality of the case, which has besides led to large media involvement some nationally and internationally. If the accused is not shielded from this and from different prisoners, important grounds could beryllium lost,” the ruling read.

He was being held connected 5 counts of preliminary execution and 3 counts of preliminary attempted murder. Preliminary charges are a measurement abbreviated of ceremonial charges, and a terror-related complaint could beryllium brought aboriginal if the grounds supports it, Omholt said.

Andersen Braathen didn’t look successful court. His defence lawyer, Fredrik Neumann, told Norwegian quality bureau NTB helium had nary comments, saying of his client: “He has agreed to imprisonment, truthful past this truly speaks for itself.”

Police described him Thursday arsenic a Muslim person and said determination “earlier had been worries of the antheral having been radicalized.” But neither constabulary nor the home quality work elaborated oregon said wherefore they flagged Andersen Braathen oregon what they did with the information.

According to Norwegian media, Andersen Braathen has a condemnation for burglary and cause possession, and past twelvemonth a tribunal granted a restraining bid for him to enactment distant from his parents for six months aft threatening to termination 1 of them.

Norway’s caller premier minister, Jonas Gahr Stoere, and Justice Minister Emilie Enger Mehl were expected to sojourn Kongsberg aboriginal Friday.

Kongsberg is located successful a picturesque vale surrounded by mountains immoderate 66 kilometers (41 miles) southwest of Oslo. Established successful 1624 arsenic a mining assemblage aft the find of metallic successful the area, it is wherever the Royal Norwegian Mint is based.

The assemblage for decades had a weapons mill that initially produced guns, and present houses defense, and aerospace and exertion companies.

Olsen reported from Copenhagen, Denmark.