Two people killed, 21 injured in three mass shootings in Norway

Two people have been killed and 21 injured in three consecutive shootings in Oslo, including in a gay bar. All Pride events have been cancelled.

Authorities in the Norway’s capital said a 42-year-old Norwegian national of Iranian origin who was previously known to police had been arrested within minutes of the shootings and was believed to be the sole perpetrator.

The state prosecutor, Christian Hatlo, told a news conference on Saturday that 10 people had been seriously injured in the shootings and 11 more were slightly wounded. Two weapons, a pistol and an automatic rifle, had been seized, he said.

The man was “suspected of murder, attempted murder and terrorist acts”, the public broadcaster NRK reported the prosecutor as saying. “There is reason to think that this concerns a hate crime. That is one of the hypotheses.”

Police said they were investigating “whether Pride was a target in itself, or whether there were other motives”. The attack was also being investigated as “a possible act of terrorism”, a police spokesperson said.

Hatlo said psychiatric problems could be a factor. “We have to go through his full medical history,” the prosecutor said.

First reports of the shootings, which happened at the London Pub, a popular bar for the LGBTQ+ community, the nearby Herr Nilsen jazz club, and a takeaway food outlet, were received at 1.14am, hours before the city’s Pride celebrations were due to start.

Organisers said they had called off the march and all related events after receiving “clear advice and recommendations” from the police. “Now we will follow the police’s recommendations and take care of each other,” they said.

“Warm thoughts and love go to relatives, the injured and others affected. We will soon be proud and visible again, but today we will hold and share Pride celebrations from home,” said Inger Kristin Haugsevje, the leader of Oslo Pride.

A witness said the suspect, who was arrested within five minutes of the shootings, had looked “very determined about where he was aiming. There was a bleeding man lying on the ground,” she told Verdens Gang.

Another witness quoted by the paper described “a lot of injured people on the ground who had head injuries”. An NRK radio journalist who was present at the time of the shooting said the shooter arrived with a bag from which he pulled out a weapon. _Agencies