OSLO, Norway (AP) – A gunman opened fire on Oslo’s nightlife district early Saturday, killing two people and leaving more than 20 injured in what the Norwegian security service called an “Islamist terrorist act” “during the capital ‘s annual LGBTQ pride festival.
Investigators said the suspect, identified as a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen from Iran, was arrested after setting fire to three sites in central Oslo.
Police said two men, one in his 50s and the other in his 60s, were killed in the shootings. Ten people were treated for serious injuries, but it was believed that none of them could endanger their lives. Eleven others had minor injuries.
The Norwegian Police Security Service raised its terrorist alert level from “moderate” to “extraordinary” – the highest level – after the attack, which caused panicked partygoers to flee the streets or they were trying to hide from the gunman.
The acting head of the service, Roger Berg, described the attack as an “act of extreme Islamist terror” and said the suspect had “a long history of violence and threats” as well as mental health issues.
He said the agency, known by its Norwegian acronym PST, first learned of the suspect in 2015 and later worried that it had radicalized and formed part of an unspecified Islamist network.
Norwegian media named the suspect Zaniar Matapour, an Oslo resident who came to Norway with his family from a Kurdish part of Iran in the 1990s.
The lawyer for the suspect, John Christian Elden, said his client “has not denied” having carried out the attack, but warned against speculation on the mobile.
“He has given no reason. It is too early to conclude whether this is a hate crime or terrorism,” Elden said in an email to The Associated Press.
On the advice of police, organizers canceled a Pride parade that was set for Saturday as the highlight of a week-long festival. Anyway, dozens of people marched through the capital, waving rainbow flags.
Police lawyer Christian Hatlo said it was too early to say whether the gunman specifically targeted members of the LGBTQ community.
“We need to take a closer look, we don’t know yet,” he said.
Police said civilians helped detain the man in custody, who was being held on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and terrorism, according to the number of people targeted at various locations.
Investigators seized two weapons after the attack: a handgun and an automatic weapon. Hatlo described both as “non-modern,” but gave no details.
Not far from Oslo Cathedral, a tape of the crime scene cordoned off the bars where the shootings took place, including the London Pub, which is popular with the city’s LGBTQ community.
Crowds gathered outside and left cards and flowers at makeshift monuments.
Martin Ebbestad, 29, had passed by earlier, seen the memorials and had returned with flowers.
The London Pub “is our favorite place. My boyfriend left 20 minutes earlier (it happened). I was sitting outside in the smoking area,” Ebbestad said. “We know this place very well. It doesn’t feel insecure, but it feels very close.”
Norwegian TV channel TV2 showed images of people running through the streets of Oslo in panic as they fired shots into the background. Olav Roenneberg, a journalist for the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, said he witnessed the shooting.
“I saw a man arrive at the scene with a bag. He grabbed a gun and started firing,” Roenneberg told NRK. “At first I thought it was an ordinary air pistol. Then the glass in the bar next door broke and I realized I had to run to take refuge.”
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere described the shooting as a “cruel and deeply shocking attack on innocent people”.
He said that while the reason was unclear, the shooting had caused fear and pain to the LGBTQ community.
“We’re all by your side,” Gahr Stoere wrote on Facebook.
Christian Bredeli, who was in the London pub, told the Norwegian newspaper VG that he was hiding on the fourth floor with a group of about 10 people until they told him it was safe to leave.
“Many were afraid for their lives,” he said. “When we left we saw several people injured, so we understood that something serious had happened.”
Desta G. Selassie, co-owner of the London Pub, told AP that employees who witnessed the shooting were in a state of shock and receiving psychological counseling.
Police said the suspect had a criminal record that included a narcotics offense and a gun crime for carrying a knife.
The PST said it spoke to him in May this year “because he had shown some interest in statements that were interpreted as insults to Islam.”
“In these conversations, it was assessed that he had no intention of violence, but PST is aware that he has had mental health related issues,” the agency said in a statement.
Organizers of the Oslo Pride canceled the parade and other scheduled events and encouraged “people from all over Norway to show solidarity” at home, neighborhoods and social media.
“We will be back later, proud, visible, but right now is not the time for that,” Inge Alexander Gjestvang, leader of FRI, a Norwegian organization for sexual and gender diversity, told TV2.
Like its Scandinavian neighbors, Norway considers itself progressive in LGBTQ rights. There is widespread support for same-sex marriage, which was legalized in 2009. In 2016, Norway became one of the first countries in the world to allow transgender people to legally change their gender without the agreement or the intervention of a doctor.
Norwegian King Harald V offered condolences to the relatives of the victims and said the royal family was “horrified” by the attack.
“We must be united to defend our values: freedom, diversity and respect for each other. We have to keep advocating so that all people feel safe, ”the monarch said.
World leaders condemned the attack on its way to the Group of Seven summit in Germany. The host of the summit, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, tweeted: “The Norwegian people can be sure of our sympathy. The fight against terror unites us.” French President Emmanuel Macron offered his condolences in a tweet in Norwegian.
John Kirby, a White House National Security Council spokesman, told reporters as he flew with U.S. President Joe Biden to the G-7 summit: “Obviously, our hearts go out to all the families of the victims. , the people of Norway, which is a great ally and, of course, the LGBTQI + community, there and around the world, frankly. ”
Norway has a relatively low crime rate, but has experienced a series of lone wolf attacks in recent decades, including one of the worst mass shootings in Europe. In 2011, a right-wing extremist killed 69 people on the island of Utoya after firing a bomb in Oslo that left eight dead.
In 2019, another right-wing extremist killed his half-sister and then opened fire on a mosque, but was dominated before anyone was injured.
Last year, a Norwegian man armed with knives and a bow and arrow killed five people in a city in southern Norway. The assailant, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was sentenced on Friday to compulsory psychiatric care.
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Ritter reported from Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. Jari Tanner in Helsinki and Sarah Hambro in Oslo contributed to this report.