Two people were killed and 14 people injured, several of them seriously, in shootings near bars in central Oslo on the night of Friday June 24 to Saturday June 25, announced the Norwegian police, who arrested a suspect.
The shooting occurred around 1 local time at three close locations, including a gay bar, in the center of the Norwegian capital. The police reported two dead and 14 wounded, and said that two weapons had been seized.
“Everything now indicates that there was only one person who committed this gesture”, said a police official, Tore Barstad, during a press briefing. However, the workforce has been reinforced in the capital to deal with other incidents, he added, without wanting to specify whether it was a terrorist act.
Police received the first reports at 1:14 a.m. and the suspect was arrested five minutes later, he said. The shooting happened near the London Pub gay club, the Herr Nilsen jazz club and a takeaway food outlet. Police officials gathered to reflect on the impact of the shooting on the staging of the Pride march due to take place on Saturday afternoon in Oslo.
“Very determined”
“He looked very determined on where he was aiming. When I understood that it was serious, I ran. There was a bloody man lying on the ground.”told a woman who witnessed the scene to the newspaper Verdens Gang (VG). Another witness spoke to VG the use of an automatic weapon – information that the police have not confirmed – and spoke of“a scene of war”. “There were a lot of injured people on the ground who had head injuries”he said.
According to an NRK journalist present at the time of the shooting, the shooter arrived with a bag from which he pulled out a weapon with which he fired. The area was patrolled by heavily armed police equipped with bulletproof vests and helmets. Among the 14 injured, eight were taken to hospital and six others were taken care of by a medical service.
“Some are described as seriously injured, others as more lightly injured”, said police officer Tore Barstad. Generally peaceful Norway was the scene of bloody attacks on July 22, 2011 when right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in a bomb attack on the government headquarters in Oslo and a shooting attack on a rally of young workers on the island of Utoya.