– I have an arrow in my back – VG

With police officers on his ear, he was hit with an arrow in the back, but continued to help with evacuation and keep eye contact with the perpetrator.

To Politiforum he tells how it all started:

Outside the store, he was greeted by a stressed lady who told what was happening inside the store. He then calls the police patrol and says that he has been notified that someone is shooting with an arrow, and that he goes in to see what is happening.

It is 6.15 pm when Rigoberto enters the doors of Coop Extra. Inside the shop, he quickly met Bråthen:

– There he stands. With a bow in hand, looking straight at me. I look back, and I have to look three times, because I have an arrow in my back. I’m still talking on the phone with the patrol, and I say, ‘He hit me.’ She asks me what I am saying, and I say, “He shot me with a bow and arrow. I’m standing with an arrow out of my back now. Then I hear her throw herself into the connection and say “policeman shot with a bow and arrow in the back”. I am not in pain at all, but I do not want to move my arm, and continue to hold it and the phone up to my head, he says.

– I felt no pain, I just thought I had to get away and ran to the back door of the store towards the garage. So I acted according to what we are trained up to, not to let the perpetrator out of sight, he says in an interview with the Amedia newspapers Laagendalsposten, The online newspaper and Drammens Tidende.

Villarroel then reported to the patrol he had on the thread that he had been hit. In the hectic minutes, the dramatic message was also passed on to the police. “One of their own had been hit,” was the message.

VG has been in contact with Villarroel, who communicates that there has been a lot of attention around him and his family in the last week and that they now need to protect themselves in the time to come.

He wants to spend the time taking care of his loved ones, and asks for understanding that he does not want to give any further comments now.

The first police patrol arrived at the scene and got in touch with Bråthen six minutes after the first message to the center. They have the protective equipment left in the car to go straight into action. When they were shot, they withdrew. Since they lost sight of him. Bråthen escaped, and ended up killing five people.

The policeman did not immediately know that he was hit by an arrow in the back of the shoulder. Later it would turn out that it had gone nine centimeters into the body.

He tells Nettavisen that he was first transported to the emergency room in Kongsberg before the trip went up to the hospital:

– I saw it in the face of the health personnel that something really, really bad had happened here and I got chills. But they took care of me and despite the shock of more being killed, I felt safe. They were all real heroes in my eyes.

Following the incident, Villarroelselv been described by eyewitnesses as a hero:

– That is strange. It is a tragedy where many people have been affected by this in a much stronger way than me. It is a little strange to be the one who is seen as a hero, and at the same time not have been in pain, and have come out of it unscathed, he says to Politiforum.

Ex-cohabitant targeted by Bråthen

Earlier this week, VG spoke with Villarroel’s former cohabitant, Joanne McGregor, who also ended up in the middle of the drama.

While she is helping an injured woman outside the store, the door to the emergency exit at the Coop store bursts open just three or four meters in front of her. A powerful man comes jumping out and looks around:

– I immediately realized that it was the perpetrator. He looked special, with a bow on his back. It was completely surreal.

– I did not know anything then, but later I learned that he was going to help someone who had been in the store and who had been shot at, McGregor told VG.

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