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Espen Andersen Bråthen, 37, has been charged with homicide over the assault, which passed off within the Norwegian city of Kongsberg on Wednesday night and left 5 folks lifeless.
Bråthen “isn’t disputing what occurred,” a regional police spokesperson instructed CNN Friday.
The prosecution has requested a decide that the suspect is held in detention for at the least 4 weeks, together with two in isolation, the spokesperson added. The courtroom is predicted to decide afterward Friday, in line with a press launch from the regional police.
Norwegian Police Safety Service (PST) chief Hans Sverre Sjøvold instructed reporters on Thursday that the assault “seems as if it could be an act of terrorism” however famous that it will be significant the investigation goes forward and “we get to make clear what the motives of the accused are.”
Officers had been involved with the person, together with “on account of earlier issues associated to radicalization,” police chief Ole Bredrup Sæverud stated. Officers additionally revealed the suspect had transformed to Islam.
The suspect had not appeared on their radar this 12 months although, Sæverud indicated, saying the police had “acquired no stories in 2021 relating to radicalization.”
4 ladies and one man have been killed within the assault. They have been all aged 50 to 70 years, Sæverud stated.
Folks laid flowers and lit candles at a vigil for the victims in Kongsberg on Thursday night, with extra stopping by to pay their respects on the makeshift memorial on Friday.
Newly inaugurated Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was anticipated to journey to the city on Friday.
Talking Thursday at a press convention within the capital, Oslo, Gahr Støre stated he hoped to go to alongside the Minister for Justice with a purpose to categorical their “help” to these affected.
The tragedy coincided with Gahr Støre’s announcement of the brand new Norwegian authorities Thursday. Acknowledging this in the course of the press convention, he known as it “a really special occasion to current a brand new authorities” in gentle of the nation experiencing a “horribly merciless assault on harmless folks final night time.”
He expressed his aid that Norwegian police had arrested the suspect, whereas emphasizing that the result was nonetheless “deeply tragic.”
“It was an act of terrorism, and this act that occurred yesterday naturally reminds us of those that have skilled such horrible issues and we’ll stand by them,” he stated.
The Kongsberg assault “reveals that our society is weak,” Gahr Støre stated, as he burdened that it’s “not good for us to conclude what’s the motive, what’s behind this motion.” He stated the Norwegian police “have to be allowed to complete their work and make clear” such issues however that the assault “emphasizes once more that preparedness is a fancy process for a society.”
A timeline of the occasions Wednesday revealed that solely 35 minutes elapsed between the primary stories to police of a person capturing with a bow and arrow, at 6:12 p.m. and the arrest of the suspect at 6:47 p.m.
From what police now know, “it seems fairly clear that in all probability everybody was killed after the police have been involved with the perpetrator for the primary time,” Sæverud stated.
The perpetrator was believed to have acted alone, police stated.
CNN’s Niamh Kennedy contributed to this report.
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