It was 37-year-old Espen Andersen Bråthen who killed five persons at Kongsberg, a small city in Norway. Bråthen has admitted the killings in a questioning by the police Wednesday evening.
In the attack he used a bow-and-arrow, as well as other weapons, according to the police.
The dead are four women and a man. All were aged 50 to 70 years. The police believe everyone was killed after the police's first contact with the accused.
The 37-year-old man is a Danish citizen, but has lived in Norway for most of his life. The police have confirmed that he is a Muslim convert.
«The incidents at Kongsberg appears at the moment as an act of terrorism, but the investigation, which is led by the South-East police district, will clarify more details of what the motife was», PST (Norwegian Police Security Service) informs on Thursday.
Dette er drapsmannen Espen Andersen Bråthens advarsel
Several neighbours has identified Bråthen as the man conveying the threats in the video. Nettavisen has notified defender Fredrik Neumann that we are naming Bråthen. He does not want to comment on this.
Here is the video that Espen Andersen Bråthen published in 2017, and the reasoning for his friend warning the police:
Police say on Thursday that they hav received several warnings that the man had become radicalized - no later than 2020.
A close friend of Bråthen tells Nettavisen that Bråthen for years had struggled with mental problems, without receiving the treatment he desperately needed.
Våpenlobbyen kommenterer drapene i Kongsberg: – Takk Gud for at vi amerikanere har rett til å beskytte oss
– Never got any help
– We have been deeply concerned for him for many years. He is not a monster. This is a really sensitive and vulnerable person who has struggled a lot with his psyche, and who has never got any help. He has become totally confused and pushed everyone away, says the friend to Nettavisen.
In 2017, he even notified the police about the man. Bråthen had then published two videos on YouTube, where he conveyed threats that he would do something. The video was later taken down.
Wednesday evening there were a lot of rumours on Twitter with fake names of the killer.
