A person armed with a bow and arrow killed 5 folks and wounded two others in a sequence of assaults within the Norwegian city of Kongsberg late on Wednesday, native police stated.
The suspect was in custody, police added.
“The person used a bow and arrow…for among the assaults,” police chief Oeyvind Aas advised reporters. The police have been investigating whether or not different weapons had additionally been used, he stated.
“The person has been apprehended…from the data we now have, this particular person carried out these actions alone,” Aas added.
One of many wounded folks was an off-duty police officer.
Newspaper VG confirmed photos of an arrow that gave the impression to be caught within the wall of a wood-paneled constructing.
The dying toll was the worst of any assault in Norway since 2011, when far-right extremist Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 folks, most of them youngsters at a youth camp.
The assaults on Wednesday befell over “a big space” of Kongsberg, a municipality of about 28,000 folks in southeastern Norway, 68 km (42 miles) from the capital, Oslo.
The federal government stated police had launched a big investigation.
“The stories coming from Kongsberg tonight are horrifying,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg advised a information convention.
“I perceive that many individuals are afraid, however it’s necessary to stress that the police at the moment are in management,” she stated.
Following the assaults, the police directorate stated it had ordered officers nationwide to hold firearms. Norwegian police are usually unarmed however officers have entry to weapons and rifles when wanted.
“That is an additional precaution. The police haven’t any indication to date that there’s a change within the nationwide menace stage,” the directorate stated in a press release.
Aas stated police would examine whether or not the assault amounted to an act of terrorism.
Norway‘s minister of justice and public safety, Monica Maeland, has obtained updates on the assaults and was intently monitoring the scenario, the ministry stated.
(Reuters)