Norway Attack Victims Were Stabbed, Not Killed by Bow and Arrow

Five people killed in Norway last week were stabbed and not shot with a bow and arrow as previously believed, police have said.

Last Wednesday, Espen Andersen Brathen, a 37-year-old Danish man, was arrested and charged with five counts of murder in Kongsberg, a town in the south of Norway.

“When he arrived in Hyttegata [a street], he was no longer armed with bow and arrows. The five people killed by a stabbing weapon were killed in Hyttegata. Some were killed in their homes, some outside in public,” according to a statement from Assistant Chief of Police in Sør-Øst Police District Per Thomas Omholt.

Brathen is suspected of attacking people in a Coop Extra supermarket, firing arrows at them and injuring an off-duty police officer. However the bow and arrows were discarded before the killings happened.

Police have also downplayed the significance of Brathen’s reported conversion to Islam in the killings.

"Information about him having converted to Islam has been covered extensively in the media, and there are published videos of him announcing this. However, our investigation so far strengthens the hypothesis that he was not committed or serious in this regard," said Omholt.

The police investigation has moved on to examining the suspect’s mental health. Brathen has been moved to a secure psychiatric institution amid concerns over his mental health and questions over whether he can legally be held responsible for the attack.

An update on Monday said police had formally interviewed 60 witnesses following the incident, as well as canvassing the area and talking to around 140 people.