NORWEGIAN cops have said the suspect in the Norway bow and arrow rampage which left five people dead had been flagged for possible signs of radicalisation.
Police said the 37-year-old suspect in the half-an-hour long rampage in the town of Kongsberg, was known to them, but the exact motive for the random attacks was not known.
Those killed in the attack at 6.30pm local time were aged between 50 and 70. Two others were injured.
The suspect, who lives in the Kongsberg area, has been held in custody, had cooperated with police and implicated himself in the attacks, although he has not yet entered a plea.
He was believed to have been acting alone, police said. They said nothing about a possible motive.
I saw people flee for their lives. One was a woman holding a child in her hand
Witness
At a press conference, Chief of Police Ole Bredrup Sæverud said: “We still can not establish that this is an act of terrorism.
“We are still investigating.
“There has previously been worrying information about this man linked to his radicalization which the police have followed up. But in 2021, we have not received any warnings about him.”
A large area of the small town, some 50 miles from Oslo, was evacuated and cordoned off after the suspect opened fire.
One witness told TV 2: “I saw people flee for their lives. One was a woman holding a child in her hand.”
Among those injured in the horror attack was an off-duty police officer, who was inside a Coop Extra supermarket during the rampage.
He is one of two people understood to be in intensive care.
Norway’s royal family expressed its sympathies.
“We’re horrified by the tragic events at Kongsberg,” King Harald said in a letter addressed to the town’s mayor.
“The rest of the nation stands with you,” the 84-year-old monarch wrote.
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Harrowing images taken in the street show arrows stuck inside a wall after the suspect allegedly missed his target.
“We’re horrified by the tragic events at Kongsberg,” King Harald said in a letter addressed to the town’s mayor.
“The rest of the nation stands with you,” the 84-year-old monarch wrote.
Witnesses spoke of finding a seriously injured woman with an arrow in her body calling out for help in a pool of blood near a traffic junction.
One told TV 2: “There were crazy screams of women. I’ve never heard anything like it. It was a death cry.”
Another witness said: “There is a guy with bow and arrow shooting at people just outside my apartment. Police and multiple helicopters are here.”
Acting Prime Minister Erna Solberg reassured the nation “the police are now in control” in a press conference on the “gruesome” attack.
In response to the incident, cops across Norway – usually unarmed – were immediately ordered to carry guns.
The police chief added there were “several crime scenes” in the rampage, which took place just before 6.30pm local time.
Mayor Kari Anne Sand said a crisis centre had been established in the town adding: “It is a tragedy for all those affected. I am speechless.”
The attack happened on the eve of a new government taking power.
Ms Solberg said the mass murder would not affect the handover and the new prime minister would be sworn in as planned.
Discarded arrows were spotted in the town last night as bomb squads, police dogs and soldiers remained on site.
The investigation continues.
Last night’s shooting was the deadliest attack in Norway in a decade after far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in 2011.
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