A 37-year-old Danish man named Espen Andersen Braathen has been arrested for the murder of five people with a bow and arrow in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg on Wednesday evening.
The police identified Braathen, a Muslim convert who was known to the police. Local authorities are treating the attacks as an “act of terror. The attack is the deadliest in the country since 2011, when far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people at a youth camp.
“We haven’t had any reports about him in 2021, but earlier,” said regional police chief Ole Bredrup Saeverud. “There were concerns over radicalization… those reports were followed up,” he added.
Braathen’s lawyer confirmed “he is explaining in detail and he is speaking and cooperating with the police.” There will be a psychiatric assessment before a decision on a trial is made.
Police were called about the attacks on Wednesday evening at 6:13 p.m., after reports of a man carrying a bow and arrow. Norwegian police, who are not normally armed, have been instructed to be armed nationwide following the attacks.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen also expressed her sympathy, saying that it was “with great sadness” that she had heard about the “terrible attack” in Kongsberg. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres meanwhile said on Twitter he was “shocked and saddened by the tragic news coming from Norway.
Source: Reuters
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