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“This is a terrorist attack and the situation has not yet been resolved,” a police spokesman said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon. Justice considers the attack as an Islamist terrorist act.
The shooting happened around 1 a.m. on the night of Friday to Saturday. According to a journalist from the public broadcaster NRK, a man approached with a bag. There he took out a weapon and started firing. Video footage clearly shows people running away when shots are fired.
According to a police spokesperson, there are three crime scenes: near the London nightclub, at the Herr Nilsen Jazz Club and at the arrest scene a little further. They were bystanders who were able to overpower and restrain the man. The police received the emergency call at 1.14 am and the suspect was arrested five minutes later. Two people were killed, 11 slightly and 10 seriously injured.
Convicted several times
The suspect is a 42-year-old Norwegian with Iranian roots. He is said to have come to Norway with his family from the Kurdish part of Iran in the 1990s. According to a police spokesperson, he is already familiar with the law, “but not for major facts.” Staatssomroep NRK reports that the man has been convicted several times. In 1999, for example, he was sentenced to 10 months in prison for a stabbing in a nightclub. He was acquitted on a number of charges before the appeals court. Even then, the court ruled that there were “clear psychological problems.” In 2016 there was a conviction for possession of 100 grams of cocaine and that same year he was involved in a shooting at a house in Oslo. According to NRK, he was also fined in 2020 for walking around with a pocket knife.
Officers guard the entertainment street where the shots were fired.
Ⓒ ANP / AFP
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The PST – a judicial service in Norway – has known the perpetrator since 2015, CEO Roger Berg said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon. “We feared that he was radicalized and part of an extreme Islamist contact network. We are now investigating to what extent ideological motives play a role and whether there is also a connection between that network.” The PST spoke with the man in May, but it was then ruled that he would not resort to violence.
Pride
For the time being, the suspect is refusing to cooperate with the investigation. He also changed lawyers. Police seized two weapons during the arrest. “Everything now indicates that only one person committed these acts,” said police chief Tore Barstad. The police presence in Oslo has been strengthened.
The clubs are located in the entertainment district of the Norwegian capital. Due to the warm weather, a lot of people were on their feet. This week the Pride will be celebrated in various places in Oslo, the organization has now decided to cancel that parade. Although the threat level has been raised – and despite the ban – there was a spontaneous demonstration in Oslo. Hundreds of people marched to the start of the parade Saturday afternoon with rainbow flags in hand.
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called the shooting a “appalling and deeply shocking attack on innocent people.” “We do not yet know the reasons for this terrible act, but to the gays who are now afraid and mourning, I want to say that we support you all,” he wrote on Facebook.
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