By Jan M. Olsen
A man armed with a bow and arrows killed several people and wounded others Wednesday near the Norwegian capital of Oslo before he was arrested, authorities said.
The police chief in the town of Kongsberg said there was “a confrontation” between officers and the assailant, but he did not elaborate. He said there were several deaths but offered no details.
Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that at least four people were dead.
“The man who carried out the act has been arrested by the police, and there is no active search for more people. Based on the information we have, there is one person behind this,” Police Chief Oeying Aas said.
Acting Prime Minister Erna Solberg described the attack as “gruesome” and said it was too early to speculate on the man's motive. The prime minister-designate, Jonas Gahr Stoere, who is expected to take office Thursday, called the assault “a cruel and brutal act” in comments to Norwegian news agency NTB.
Police were alerted to the attack around 6:30 p.m. and arrested the suspect about 20 minutes later. The community is 66 kilometers (41 miles) southwest of Oslo.
According to police, the suspect walked around the city shooting at people with arrows. Several people were wounded in shops, Aas said.
The man has not been questioned yet, Aas said.
City officials invited people who were affected by the attack and their relatives to gather for support at a local hotel.
The attack comes over a decade after Anders Behring Breivik, a right-wing extremist, set off a bomb in Oslo’s government district and then carried out a shooting massacre at the summer camp of the left-wing Labor Party’s youth organization on Utoya island. The violence on July 22, 2011, killed 77 people and stunned Norway.
Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum under Norwegian law, but his term can be extended as long as he’s considered a danger to society.
