The suspected yesterday’s attack on a Norwegian gay bar is named Zaniar Matapour.
Two people were killed and more than 20 were injured early Saturday morning after a bar in Oslo was attacked during a pride celebration.
Investigators said the suspect, originally identified as a 42-year-old Norwegian citizen from Iran, was arrested after firing in three locations in central Oslo.
The two victims were a man in his 50s and another man in his 60s.
Ten people were treated for serious injuries but were not considered life-threatening. The other 11 were slightly injured.
The Norwegian Police and Security Bureau raised the terrorism alert level from “moderate” to “abnormal” after the attack. This caused panicked delights to flee the streets and try to hide from the shooters.
Roger Berg, the service’s deputy director, said the attack was considered an “extreme Muslim terrorist act,” and the suspect had a “long history of violence and intimidation” and mental health problems. Said that he was holding.
He said that the agency, known by the Norwegian acronym PST, first noticed the suspect in 2015 and was then concerned that he had become radical and part of an unspecified Muslim network. Said it became.
Norwegian media named the suspect Zaniar Matapour in Oslo, who arrived in Norway with his family from the Kurdish region of Iran in the 1990s.
John Christian Elden, the suspect’s defense counsel, said his client had not spoken to the investigator, noting speculation for reasons.
“He doesn’t give any reason. It’s too early to conclude whether this is a hate crime or a terrorist attack,” Elden said.
With police advice, the organizers canceled the pride parade set on Saturday as the highlight of the week-long festival.
Anyway, dozens of people marched through the capital, waving rainbow-colored flags.
Police lawyer Christian Hatro said it was too early to say whether the shooters specifically targeted members of the LGBTQ community.
“We have to scrutinize it, we don’t know yet,” he said.
Hatro said the suspect was detained on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, and terrorism based on the number of people targeted at multiple locations.
“Our overall assessment is that there is reason to believe that he wanted to cause serious fear in the population,” he said.
One of the shootings took place outside the London Pub, a popular bar in the city’s LGBTQ + community, hours before the parade began.
Citizens helped police stop the shooter before he was detained.
Olav Roenneberg, a journalist for the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, said he had witnessed the shooting.
“I saw a man arrive at the scene with a bag. He picked up his weapon and started shooting,” Roenneberg told NRK.
“At first I thought it was an airsoft gun, then the glass in the bar next door shattered and I realized I had to run for the cover.
Another witness, Marcus Nibakken, 46, said he saw many people running and screaming and thought it was a boxing fight.
“But I heard it was a shooting and someone was shooting with a submachine gun,” Nybakken told Norwegian broadcaster TV2.
“The shooting outside the London pub in Oslo tonight was a cruel and shocking attack on innocent people,” Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said in a Facebook post.
He said the shooting caused fear and sadness in the LGBTQ community.
“We are all by your side,” writes Gahr Stoere.
Christian Bredeli, who was in a pub in London, told the Norwegian newspaper VG that he hid on the fourth floor in a group of about 10 people until he was told he was safe.
“Many people were afraid of their lives,” he said.
“I saw a few injured on my way home and I knew something serious had happened.”
Mr Hatro said police had seized two weapons after the attack. They are pistols and automatic weapons, both of which are “not modern” without giving details.
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