Five people confirmed dead and more injured by Danish man armed with a bow and arrows in Norway

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At least five people have been killed and two others injured by a man using a bow and arrows to carry out attacks in the Norwegian town of Kongsberg.

Police arrested and charged a 37-year-old Danish man over the attack after a man marauded through the town for 34 minutes firing randomly at victims on Wednesday evening.

The killer opened fire inside a Coop Extra supermarket in the town’s west around 6:13pm local time and was detained at 6:47pm following a ‘confrontation’ with officers in which they fired warning shots. 

The man was taken to a police station in the nearby town of Drammen for questioning and subsequently charged. He is co-operating with officers and giving a detailed explanation of events, his lawyer said this morning.

The attacks took place over ‘a large area’ of Kongsberg as the suspect moved through the town, police said, and witnesses reported seeing a woman with an arrow lodged in her body several streets away from the supermarket.

At least five people died and two injured victims, including an off duty policeman who was inside the grocery store, were taken to the intensive care ward of a nearby hospital in a serious but non-life threatening conditions. 

Police said it was thought only one person was involved in the attack and that they would investigate the ‘natural’ possibility the attack was an act of terrorism. 

The suspect’s lawyer Fredrik Neumann said he believed his client resides in Kongsberg and had lived in Norway ‘for the most part’ despite being born in Denmark.

Officers were today probing whether the attacker used more than one weapon during the 30-minute bloodbath and police chief Øyvind Aas told reporters ‘the man used a bow and arrow… for some of the attacks.’ 

Norway’s outgoing Conservative Prime Minister Erna Solberg called the attack ‘shocking’ and ‘gruesome’ in a press conference late on Wednesday. ‘I understand that many people are afraid, but it’s important to emphasise that the police are now in control,’ she said. 

Labour party leader Jonas Gahr Store, who is due to become prime minister today after an election last month, described the killings as ‘cruel and brutal’ and said his thoughts were with ‘those affected, their families, and with the police, the health workers who are now working full time to assist those who need help.’

Following the attacks, the Norwegian police command said it had immediately ordered officers nationwide to carry firearms. Norwegian police are normally unarmed but officers have access to guns and rifles when needed. 

Official’s said Wednesday’s rampage was the deadliest attack in Norway in a decade, since far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in twin attacks on July 22, 2011.  

Breivik first set off a bomb in the capital Oslo next to the building that housed the office of the prime minister, then went on a shooting spree at a summer camp for left-wing youths on the island of Utoya.   

A witness told TV2 she had heard a commotion and seen people running for cover before catching side of a ‘man standing on the corner with arrows in a quiver on his shoulder and a bow in his hand,’ AFP reported. 

‘Afterwards, I saw people running for their lives. One of them was a woman holding a child by the hand,’ she added.

Another witness tweeted: ‘There is a guy with bow and arrow shooting at people just outside my apartment wtf. Police and multiple helicopters are here.’

While Sarkis Younan, a student who lives next to the Coop Extra store, told local media: ‘I was sitting and watching Squid Game when I suddenly saw and heard sirens. I thought it was in the TV series. Suddenly I heard the police screaming like hell: ‘Put down your weapon”.’  

Officers have cordoned large areas of the town, a municipality of around 28,000 people in southeastern Norway, 82km (51 miles) from Oslo, and urged the public to stay home. Police said there were several crime scenes. 

Some of the arrows pictured strewn around the site of the attack appeared to be crossbow bolts while others had flights indicating they could be used with a bow. 

‘The man used a bow and arrow… for some of the attacks,’ police chief Øyvind Aas told reporters adding that police were investigating whether other weapons had also been used. 

Television footage showed ambulances, armed police, a helicopter, and bomb disposal team in the area. 

The TV2 station reported that the man also had a knife or other weapons. And the website of public broadcaster NRK published an image sent by a witness of a black arrow sticking out of a wall. 

‘We can unfortunately confirm that there are several injured and also unfortunately several killed in this episode,’ Aas told a news conference. ‘The man who committed this act has been arrested by the police and, according to our information, there is only one person involved.’ 

‘There is no active search for other people,’ Aas said. Police said it was ‘natural’ to probe terrorism as a possible motive. 

Police are understood to be interviewing several witnesses and visited an address in Kongsberg late on Wednesday. 

Unni Grøndal, Oslo police spokesperson: ‘We are helping with national assistance resources such as police helicopters, bomb squads, and crews from the Emergency Response Troop.’ 

At least eight ambulances and three air ambulances were seen at the scene with the wounded taken to hospital. 

It was not immediately clear where the wounded were taken but Oslo University Hospital was put on standby to receive victims.   

Mayor Kari Anne Sand told VG newspaper: ‘It is a tragedy for all those affected. I have no words. This is a shocking event that we did not think could happen in Norway.’ 

Following the attacks, the police directorate said it had immediately ordered officers nationwide to carry firearms. Norwegian police are normally unarmed but officers have access to guns and rifles when needed.

‘This is an extra precaution. The police have no indication so far that there is a change in the national threat level,’ the directorate said in a statement. 

Norway’s minister of justice and public security, Monica Maeland, has received updates on the attacks and was closely monitoring the situation, the ministry said.  

City officials invited people who were affected by the attack and their relatives to gather for support at a local hotel.  

New Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who is set to take up the position today, said: ‘What we have heard from Kongsberg tonight testifies that a cruel and brutal act has been committed. We still know little about what happened and what is behind it, but we know that several innocent people were killed and that several were injured.

‘My thoughts and deepest sympathy are with those affected, their families, and with the police, the health workers who are now working full time to assist those who need help.’

Former Norwegian MP Laila Gustavsen, who lives in Kongsberg, said: ‘That something like this can happen in a quiet small town like ours is unreal.’ 

Head of Norway’s Socialist Left Party Audun Bjorlo Lysbakken said: ‘I feel profound sadness that such cruel acts of violence could hit the inhabitants of a peaceful Norwegian town.’

While Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said: ‘Terrible attack in Norway tonight. My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.’  

Norway has traditionally been a peaceful nation but has suffered far-right attacks.

Right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik carried out twin attacks that killed 77 people on July 22, 2011.

Breivik first set off a bomb in the capital Oslo next to the building that housed the office of the prime minister, then went on a shooting spree at a summer camp for left-wing youths on the island of Utoya.  

Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum under Norwegian law, but his term can be extended as long as he’s considered a danger to society.

In August 2019, self-proclaimed neo-Nazi Philip Manshaus opened fire into a mosque on the outskirts of Oslo before being overpowered by worshippers, with no one being seriously injured.

However, he had earlier shot dead his step-sister, who had been adopted from China, in what prosecutors termed a ‘racist act’.

Several planned jihadist attacks have also been foiled by security services.