The police revealed this Monday that the five victims of the attack in Norway last week were murdered with a “sharp object” after the aggressor lost or abandoned the arc and arrows with which he initiated the attack.
“At some point he left or lost their bow and arrows,” said Inspector per Thomas Omit at a press conference, adding that he killed “five people with a sharp object in private sites and in public spaces,” he added.
The police, who until hour had indicated that the suspect Espeñe Andersen Bråthen was armed with an arc and arrows, and two other weapons, did not want to specify what kind of white weapon it was.
“Everything indicates that these victims were killed at random,” reiterated per Thomas Omit.
According to the police, more than a dozen people were target of the archers at the start of the attack, but none died by this mechanism.
Suspect of Islamist radicalization, Even Andersen Bråthen, a 37-year-old Danish, acknowledged five people and hurt another three in this attack, which took place last Wednesday in Kongsberg, a small town of 25,000 inhabitants in southeastern Norway
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“Regarding the mobile, the disease remains the main hypothesis. And with respect to conversion to Islam, this hypothesis loses weight,” added per Thomas Omit.
The suspect, who probably acted alone, is in provisional detention at a medical center.
A psychiatric evaluation is being carried out to determine if he can be considered or not criminally responsible for the facts.
On Saturday, the police identified the five victims, four women and a man: Andréa Meyer, 52, Hanne Merethe Englund, 56, Liv Berge Borge, 75, Gunnar Erling Sauve, 75, and Gun Marith Madsen, 78.
Criticized for having delayed more than half an hour to arrest Bråthen after receiving the first alerts, the police privileged the track of the terrorist act at first, but then opted for the mental health of the suspect.
Bråthen, who lived since years in Kongsberg, about 80 km west of Oslo, had a medical history, according to the authorities, although at the moment they did not transcend what kind.
The suspect was on the list of “filed” people for Norwegian security services (PST), which deal with, among others, cases of terrorism.
Shortly after the attack, the police reported that “there were fears related to a radicalization” of the individual in 2020 and before, which led the authorities to monitor him.
According to the public radiotelel NRK, a first alert signal arrived in 2015 and, according to the Norwegian press, the PST warned in 2018 on the fact that the suspect could commit “a small-scale attack”.
This information has questioned the measures that the authorities applied to prevent Bråthen from passing the act.
