A shooting occurred early Saturday morning in Norway’s capital city, which resulted in at least ten people being critically injured and the deaths of two individuals. The police have said that they are examining the incident as a terrorist assault.
The incident took place in the downtown area of Oslo next to a well-known homosexual bar a few hours before the city was supposed to stage its annual Pride march. The organisers of the event subsequently said that they had cancelled the march as well as other activities that were tied to a 10-day Pride celebration because the police had suggested doing so.
According to a tweet sent by the Oslo police, a male suspect was taken into custody not long after the incident. Later on Saturday, a lawyer for the police named Christian Hatlo disclosed to the media that the individual who was being held in jail was a Norwegian citizen with the age of 42 who was originally from Iran and who had a history of committing minor offences.
According to the police, the shooter opened fire outside of two nightclubs as well as a cafe. Mr. Hatlo then revealed that he had been charged with murder, attempted murder, and terrorism by the government. He said that they were examining the incident as a possible terrorist assault due to the large number of victims and crime scenes as well as the high number of people who were injured.
According to Mr. Hatlo, one of the three locations was the London Pub, which is known as a hub for the homosexual nightlife scene in Oslo. As a result, the police have grounds to believe that the assault was motivated by bias.
According to Mr. Hatlo, in addition to the 10 persons who were gravely hurt, 11 other people were mildly injured, some of them were harmed while making a desperate rush to leave the area. He went on to say that the authorities had managed to confiscate two firearms, one of which was fully automatic.
In Norway, a shooting is a very uncommon occurrence. Last year, a ban on semiautomatic weapons, which was enacted by the Norwegian Parliament as a delayed response to an attack in 2011 that was carried out by a far-right gunman and resulted in the deaths of 77 people, went into effect. Gun owners are required to have licences and attend safety classes.
The most recent shooting, which took place in Norway, was referred to as a “cruel and extremely upsetting assault on innocent people” by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store in a statement issued after the incident. Raymond Johansen, the mayor of Oslo, referred to the incident as “gruesome.”
On his Facebook page, the Speaker of the Norwegian Parliament, Masud Gharahkhani, issued a similar statement of condemnation for the shooting.
Mr. Gharahkhani, a Norwegian citizen who is originally from Iran, said that the Pride flag was flown above the Parliament building for the first time on the previous Saturday in order to “celebrate diversity and love.”
