After a shooting in Oslo, the capital of Norway, a 42-year-old man has been detained and accused of murder, attempted murder, and terrorist actions.
On Saturday at around 1:00 a.m. local time (23:00 GMT), there was a shooting in three different places, including a homosexual pub. A popular LGBTQ+ establishment, the London Pub, as well as a jazz club and a pub close by were all the targets of gunfire. According to investigators, the suspect, a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen of Iranian ancestry, was apprehended after opening fire at three different sites in the heart of Oslo, thereby it can be termed a deadly Oslo incident.
The nocturnal attack on a popular nightlife area resulted in two fatalities and 21 injuries. Six of the 14 injured were treated by a medical service, and eight were brought to a hospital.
The annual Pride parade in Oslo was scheduled to take place on Saturday but has been postponed on the advice of the police. On the Oslo Pride website, a statement read, “We will soon be proud and visible again, but today, we will share our Pride celebrations from home.”
In a press conference held later on Saturday, police stated that “There is reason to think that this may be a hate crime,”. Furthermore, the attack on innocent people was described as “awful and extremely distressing” by Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre on a Facebook post.
The Verdens Gang newspaper received a report from a witness that the attacker “looked very determined about where he was aiming. When I realised it was serious, I ran. There was a bleeding man lying on the ground.”
Officials On The Attack in deadly Oslo Incident
Police announced on Saturday that the man they detained amid the horrifying killings is a Norwegian of Iranian heritage. Police stated at a press conference, before identifying the suspect, that the individual was well-known to domestic security agencies and had run-ins with the law for relatively minor offences including weapon and drug possession. This was a deadly Oslo incident.
The attack left terrified partygoers running into the streets or attempting to hide from the shooter. The PST security service upgraded its threat level from “moderate” to “extraordinary,” which is considered to be the highest level. The attack was described as an “extreme Islamist terror act” by PST acting chief Roger Berg, who also noted the suspect’s “long history of violence and threats” in addition to his mental health problems.
A Pride march that was scheduled on Saturday as the culmination of a week’s festival was cancelled on the advice of the police. Nevertheless, a large crowd marched through the city’s centre while carrying rainbow flags.
The shooting has shocked the LGBTQ community in the Nordic nation, according to Inge Alexander Gjestvang, head of FRI – a Norwegian organisation for sexual and gender diversity. Inge Alexander taled to TV2 stating “We encourage everyone to stand together, take care of each other. We’ll be back later, proud, visible but right now it’s not the time for that,”
Moreover, announcing that the royal family was “horrified” by the incident, King Harald V expressed sympathy to the victims’ families.
