A man armed with a bow and arrows killed five people Wednesday near Oslo, the Norwegian capital, before he was arrested, authorities said.
At least 5 killed and others wounded in bow and arrow attack near Oslo, Norway
The police chief in the city of Kongsberg said there was “a confrontation” between officers and the assailant, but gave no further details.
Two other people were injured and hospitalized in intensive care, including an off-duty officer who was inside the store where the attack took place, police said.
“The man who carried out the act has been detained by police and there is no active search for more people.
According to the information we have, there is one person behind this,” police chief Oeying Aas said.
Acting Prime Minister Erna Solberg described the attack as “shocking” and said it was too early to speculate on the man’s motive.
Prime Minister-designate Jonas Gahr Stoere, who is expected to take office on Thursday, called the attack a “cruel and brutal act” in remarks to Norwegian news agency NTB.
Police were alerted to the attack at 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 went through the town shooting people with arrows.
Municipal authorities invited people affected by the attack and their families to gather for support at a local hotel.
The attack comes more than 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 left-wing Labour Party youth organization’s summer camp on the island of Utoya.
The violence on July 22, 2011 killed 77 people and shocked Norway.
Breivik was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum under Norwegian law, but his sentence can be extended as long as he is considered a danger to society.
